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Rating: It seems like a curse has struck - and continues to strike in some cases - many thrash bands, which often have to deal with significant defections: artistic differences, personal issues, or simple changes in "lifestyles" have often been the basis of sudden line-up variations, sometimes leading to a "return to the original" after a long time, in shabby reunions whose purpose is easily inferred.
But without unnecessary digressions, specifying only the change of drummer from the previous album (John Tempesta replacing Tom Hunting, who was dealing with heart problems), which nonetheless left many fans disappointed, we go straight to the album: "Impact is Imminent", a tough title once again, but according to critics, it is rather lacking in aggression.
With an excessively commercial flavor, it was labeled by many as a partial misstep by the West Coast boys, others dismissed it without reservations, but there was still a large group of supporters loyal to their idols who looked enchanted at every new work, probably not wrongly, considering that many of the criticisms received by this album were truly unfounded.
The pros and cons? First of all, in my opinion, the energy of Exodus remains unchanged and it is felt; any criticisms would at most be attributed to perhaps not-so-brilliant songwriting as in the past, but after conceiving a monolith called "Fabulous Disaster", expecting another step forward would be difficult; and indeed this progression is not there, the tracks sound less engaging, sometimes a bit repetitive and predictable, their audience, a good portion of whom were infuriated at the time of the 1990 album's release, even criticized it for recycling ideas already excellently expressed, and in an original manner, in previous works (excluding "Pleasures of the Flesh", which also faced considerable dissent).
However, the production seems significantly improved, as does an overall increase in technical quality of each individual component: Souza's vocals are more balanced (and perhaps, as a "side effect", for this reason might seem less direct and less suitable to the sound created around him), the two guitars, in my opinion, carve out a space in more expressive solos than those written for "Fabulous Disaster" -not to take away from that great album, of course-, but McKillop has little opportunity for prominence considering the wall of guitars erected against him, along with the pounding and exhausting drums of the much-maligned John Tempesta, whose style is slightly different from that of his predecessor (and thus, why delve into possibly unfavorable comparisons?).
Trying to dot the "i's", "Impact is Imminent" still remains a work of fine craftsmanship, whatever the critics' exaggerations may say!
The title track seems to follow the thread begun five years earlier, in 1985, with the multi-decorated "Bonded by Blood", along with the thrash anthem "Thrash Under Pressure"; notable are also "Within the Walls of Chaos", "Heads The Win" -the solo is applause-worthy- and "Changing of the Guard", the latter with a curious and fascinating intro.
But, allow me the repetition, I'd like to highlight how the solos of some tracks (also consider "Objection Overruled" in this regard) are endowed with an incredible power, and technicism rarely ends in itself -because, I regret to admit, in some cases there's a bit too much exaggeration-, guitar outbursts with "nervous" and frantic notes that strain the brain cells of those who have to endure, in total helplessness, this ultra-violence of Kubrickian memory.
The verdict goes to those who decide to judge the album without external influences, without considering the period it was written, without taking into account what was composed before and after... in short, in a capsule of impartiality. I defer to the leniency of the readers with the following rating, matured in light of the aforementioned.
Rating: 7.5
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Impact Is Imminent (04:19)
You wouldn't take a taxi
You said you couldn't stay
You drink and drink and drive
Almost every day
Your life speeds through your mind
Faster than you drive
Living on a shoestring
All your fucking life
Your friends say you need help
You tell them that you're fine
As you tip the bottle
And swallow some cheap wine
You're a living time bomb
Waiting to explode
You'll just be a statistic
When you're dead and cold!
Every time you drink and drive
You always think that you'll survive
Till your car is crushed and bent
Impact is imminent
Sirens fill the streets aloud
It always draws the biggest crowd
They peel your body off cement
Impact is imminent!
The daily obituaries reveal
More and more fools climbed behind the wheel
Thinking they were sober enough to drive
They didn't know they'd never come back alive
A bad case of double vision
Led straight onto a head-on collision
Passed out and crossed the double line
How can anyone be so asinine?
Blind drunk and hauling ass
He got airborne off an overpass
He never knew he left the ground
Like a warhead target bound
You can't correct your fatal mistake
When you're the guest of honor at your own wake
Thought he could fly till he hit cement
Impact is imminent!
Drunken time bombs set to detonate
When happy hour's over they're off to celebrate
Their vision's but a blur, they barely see the road
Been drinking for so long they're starting to erode
A fucking drunken lush climbs into his car
Kills you in an instant coming from the bar
An alcoholic bum hits you from behind
A child and his mother run down in their prime!
05 Objection Overruled (04:34)
All rise and come to order
Bailiff start the video recorder
You've been sworn, what's your complaint?
Speak up son, don't hesitate!
He presided in his courtroom so long ago
He was hanging cowboys for stealing buffalo
Court is adjourned, for his honor's feeling ill
The shaking old relic needs a glycerin pill!
Hang up your rope 'cause you're looking tired
If it was up to me they'd all be fired
Day after day convicting all those liars
This ain't TV jail
It's TV hell!
Believe it or not
Those walking blood clots
Make enough money for a thousand foot yacht
Who in Hollywood
Did they every acquit?
Just senile, judicial idiots
As the drama unfolds
And the law he upholds
If you look real close
You could see him growing mold
Small claims messiah
Is only a pariah to be ridiculed...
Objection Overruled!
All rise as he takes the bench
To hear his old voice make my gut wrench
Silence to those who are in his court
I'm found guilty by his report
No washed-up judge can say to me
The shit he throws arround when he's on TV
What can he fucking do, throw me in jail?
I'd slap out his dentures, post them for bail!
Hang up your robe 'cause you're looking tired
If it was up to me they'd all be fired
Day after day convicting all those liars
This ain't TV jail, it's TV hell!
You lose the case
To a bigger bullshit they you today
When it comes to the end
You tell all of TV land what you've got to say
When you're dead and gone
Will they get another fossil to carry on?
They must go to school
To hand-pick these old fools
I say to you
Objection Overruled!
It's all Perry Mason's fault!
Cat strangling
08 Changing of the Guard (06:49)
Rumanian dictator, emperor for life
Lived a life of luxury shared only by his wife
Growing fat like pigs, eating meals fit for a king
Accumulating assets like none you've ever seen
Now the table's turned, they were stripped of all they owned
The revolution's cast the dictator from the throne
With their execution, so ends the tyranny
Two bullets from a rifle set the people free
Fighting for their rights
They toppled the regime
Pillage all their riches
Left them not a thing
Now they know the feeling
To reap the seeds they've sewn
Banished from the living
When they were overthrown
How did they feed the enormous greed
It took to satisfy their needs?
They drained the country dry
As thousands had to die
But now the monarchy is nullfied!
The changing of the guard
They no longer deal the cards
The world demands democracy
It's the dawning of a time
When the system's redefined
Oppression's now a distant memory
Communism yields to the might the people wield
For a democratic form of government
For their blatant disregard
They have suffered long and hard
It's time for a changing of the guard!
No longer will they rule the land by genocide
The traces of their empire have all been liquefied
Political reform has gotten underway
Now they're free to speak, before they'd only pray
Freedom is contagious, it's spreading far and wide
The Berlin Wall has fallen, there's no need to divide
They walk across a border where many tried and failed
Others died but not in vain, the people have prevailed.
Fighting for their rights
They toppled the regime
Pillaged all their riches
Left them not o thing
Now they know the feeling
To reap the seeds they've sewn
Banished from the living
When they were overthrown
How did they feed the enormous greed
It took to satisfy their needs?
They drained the country dry
As thousands had to die
But now the monarchy is nullified!
09 Thrash Under Pressure (02:38)
We do what we do 'cause we fucking want to
Never give a shit what others say to you
They try to give advice just to find we're cold as ice
Worthless opinions need not be spoken twice
We're proud of what me do, call us Trash we won't argue
We'll never be ashamed if our children ever knew
Forever we'll confirm and we're flattered by the term
Those embarrassed by it never should have tried it!
With my head held high
Standing dignified
I have my integrity
Never gave an inch
And I never flinch
When it came to my loyalty
100% all out nothing less
Aggressive, relentless and mean
When the chips are down
You'll never see us frown
You'll only see
Trash Under Pressure!
Heavy fuckin' sound , pound your head into the ground
Where others try and fail, we're glory bound
It's what we love to hear, we've done it for so many years
Rolling into town and blowing out your ears
Parents are against, they try and keep their children
Fenced in from the world and the evil influence
Like birds of a feather we'll always flock together
We want you to know we'll always thrash forever!
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