Austrian Death Machine - "Double Brutal"

Austrian Death Machine - Double Brutal
2009, Metal Blade

Disc One:
1. Double Ahnold
2. I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle
3. Let Off Some Steam Bennett
4. Who Writes These Songs (The Real Bomb Track)
5. It's Simple, If It Jiggles It's Fat
6. See You at the Party Richter
7. Hey Cookie Monster, Nothing is As Brutal As Neaahhh
8. Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?
9. Come On Cohaagen, Give These People Ehyar
10. Who Is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?
11. Come On, Do It, Do It, Come On, Come On, Kill Me, Do It Now
12. Allow Me to Break the Ice
13. Conan, What is Best in Life?

Disc Two:
1. Intro to the Intro
2. T2 Theme
3. Hell Bent for Leather
4. Time Travel: The Metallica Conspiracy
5. Trapped Under Ice
6. Iron Fist
7. Recalling Mars
8. I Turned Into a Martian
9. Killing is My Business...And Business is Good!
10. Tactically Dangerous - Cannibal Commando
11. Gotta Go

I did not expect to like Austrian Death Machine as much as I did. For the uninitiated, Austrian Death Machine is a side project of Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying. I've never heard As I Lay Dying so I can't say how they sound compared to this. But what I can say is that Austrian Death Machine is full throttle, fist-in-the-air, pounding thrash metal.

And it's awesome.

The first half of the album is based off of various Arnold Schwartzenegger movies like The Terminator and Predator. The Governator himself even chimes in here and there with "poignant" observations (like when he makes fun of Tim for his "cookie monster" vocal style). Of course, the biggest concern with a disc like this is that the comedy aspect would overwhelm the music and be nothing more than a fun novelty disc. I was pleasant surprised that the music contained herein is really, really good. The first track, "I Need Your Clothes..." has an infectious riff with an equally catchy gang vocal. You'll no doubt be head banging and belting along with them. The rest of the songs follow in a similar fashion - with some great face-melting leads thrown in as well.

The second half of the album is full of covers from bands like Metallica, Motorhead, and Megadeth. They're pretty decent covers even though the vocalist can't "sing" at all which hinders him in the songs with any melody whatsoever (like the Judas Priest cover). Still they're really fun to listen to and at the end of the disc I was a little overwhelmed with all the pounding but satisfied. While I don't know if I'd want disc after disc of this, Double Brutal was a fun listen and the music is something you can go back to and enjoy after the "Ahnold" bits have worn out their welcome.

Useless Fact: Does anyone know who does the "Ahnold" impression on this disc? It's a really good impression I have to say.