BAZOOKA : TOXIC WARRIORS
Metal Inquisition Records
The awful-awesomely named Bazooka are four young chaps from Taiwan for whom zombies, war (and possibly…zombie wars) are the height of sophistication, and crossover thrash is the ultimate artistic format, or so it would seem, to go by their irrepressible debut, “Toxic Warriors”. Now, existence within the extreme music scene can often seen like an endless argument over who has the highest brow, but secretly I think it’s fair to say that we all have a base instinct to neck a few beers and yell incomprehensibly along with some vintage Anthrax. I know it’s not just me…
Here’s where bands like Bazooka come in. Sometimes the quickest way to make this stuff sound tired and cynical is to give it too much commercial attention (hands up who’s bored of Municipal Waste?); it’s the kind of thing that should be blasted out of a garage at 4am, or performed at an impromptu gig in a cellar, which ends with good-natured bloodshed and arrests. Bazooka have an edge, then, in their current lack of profile – you can enjoy them in a straightforward way, confident from the mean, churning racket they’re so gleefully pouring out that they’re having a fucking good time too. Additionally, they’re not just another offshoot from this particular sub-generic tree; you can hear a real love of vintage thrash in what they do, and it’s no surprise to find them listing early Kreator as one of their influences.
“Toxic Warriors” has one or two ideas, but bucketloads of charm – from the mean and martial “March of the Dead”, via the peeling, melodic “Blitzkrieg” to the rumbling, irresistible “88mm Cannon”, you know you graduated from this school of metal way back, but damn it if you aren’t banging your easily pleased little head like there’s no tomorrow. Bazooka hit you with pretty much everything they’ve got, without the blindest bit of notice paid to elegance (check the rather less than graceful movement from bass to riff at the beginning of “Raw Noise Attack”), and all you can do is applaud them for their authenticity. Where their skills do coincide with the best aspects of their song-writing – for example their ability to layer a chugging, grooving riff over a rumbling bassy underlayer for maximum force and momentum – they’re bang on the thrashing money; the track “Barrage” will give you a taste for this.
In the end, the question of precisely how much punky, crunchy, deathy thrash one person needs in their life is rather gustily kicked to the vomit-splattered kerb by these enthusiastic invaders. You just can’t force yourself to dislike “Toxic Warriors” – its pace, immediacy and touching reverence for its forebears will win you over. Best played loud and in company.
65/100
ELLEN SIMPSON
