Pitchfork Justice

Upon hearing that Shatter Brain emerged from a primordial stoner sludge background and are gradually transforming to a crossover thrash sound, you’ll be well and truly stumped. After all, what do Crowbar and D.R.I. have in common? If you’re still scratching your head, take a listen to Pitchfork Justice and everything will become clear. Essentially establishing a blunter method of administering slamming riffs and social messages, this Aussie five-piece have probably been sucking at the teat of Power Trip since their 2018 split notably featured a cover of Mastodon’s 'Blood and Thunder'. The ground still shakes with bass-heavy rumbles and the vocals still choke out of Tom Santamaria’s throat, but this debut album lands in a niche of its own.

Starting with the cover art, Pitchfork Justice feels like a darker, more serious kind of crossover than that peddled by Municipal Waste et al, what with the berserk judge followed by media swarms and self-absorbed influencers. The social stance is backed up by heartfelt issues in cuts like 'Noble Savagery', which focuses on the pressures of conformity, and 'Lorem Ipsum', a song named after the filler text in documents and railing against meaningless, controversial opinions spouted endlessly on social media. As with most thrash-related styles, gang vocals hammer key points home, though wider influences become apparent through some low growls, ‘coreish screams, and even moments of clean singing on 'Silent Screams'. Therefore, although references to well-established bands come thick and fast, the lengthy songs (averaging 5 minutes until an interlude and brief closer) cover a lot of territory to keep listeners on their toes.

At its core, however, Pitchfork Justice remains steadfastly an album of riffs, not atmosphere. A similar reddish dust to that on the album cover kicks up from the sandy tone of the guitars, yet the mowing mid-paced riffs that fill the title track show a band determined to hit hard and repeatedly, changing techniques gradually as they do. The down-picked palm-muting that establishes the verses of 'Pitchfork Justice' adds a lot of meat to the slamming qualities of the vocal delivery, yet doomy transitions rear up suddenly and the song slows into echoing guitars by its end. More obvious melodies show up on 'Choosing Beggars' to balance the rawness elsewhere, something helped by spacious yet quiet drumming that pounds through the thick guitars to form a rudder blade. With this slightly odd set-up, Shatter Brain seem to be staggering out of control on their fat grooves, yet prove adept at shifting gears when the time comes. One of the most notable examples comes during 'Noble Savagery', when swaggering slam riffage suddenly hits a streamlined Chimaira groove, then piles into crushing descending sludge.

At a relatively brief 40 minutes, the album has little chance to drag, though the cloying dryness of the sound might put off some listeners during the sections of guttural vocals and gang shouts in the first half of 'Lorem Ipsum'. Fortunately, melodic leads come to the fore by midway through, sprinkling rejuvenating streams over the riffs and bringing the song back to the boil. Likewise, structuring the album like a gig (with a brief respite before the encore) ensures that 'Death Goes On' receives maximum attention, but ending with the most straightforward crossover thrash number may leave the impression that Pitchfork Justice innovates less than in truth. Perhaps using that section as a break between the denser earlier songs would have worked too. A final note of caution goes to prospective listeners indifferent or hostile to ‘core styles, since the grit of hardcore and the rhythmic tendencies of metalcore colour certain sections, evident right from the breakdown of opener 'Talk in Fear', during which Tom Santamaria chooses an unusually contrived and over-accented delivery.

Nevertheless, a great deal more to praise than criticize emerges from the Adelaide group’s debut. The mishmash of references gives Pitchfork Justice an undeniably modern sound, while the busy creativity shown on 'Silent Screams' and 'Noble Savagery' ensures that boredom is never a threat. With a slight increase in consistency and an ounce more power given to the drums, it’s easy to imagine Shatter Brain growing into a significant player in the realms of Black Breath and Power Trip. If there’s any justice, no pitchforks will be needed to ascend to that status.


Originally written for The Metal Observer - http://www.metal-observer.com/3.o/review/shatter-brain-pitchfork-justice/