Caustic - American Carrion

Happy Fucking New Year.

What better way to ring in the new year than with a new Caustic album? I sure as fuck can't think of a better way to. American Carrion, possibly the first Industrial album to be released in 2018 (It released at 1AM Eastern Standard Time, so if you're in Mountain time or behind, then you could consider it the last industrial album of 2017, maybe), it puts one fuck of a boot in your ass to get you started. 

I didn't think it was going to be possible for me to like this album more than I liked Fanale's 2015 release Industrial Music, but I was wrong. I was wrong in a big way. American Carrion is everything I could have hoped for in a Caustic album - and since I was one of the people who funded the Kickstarter, I can tell you that my money was not wasted in the slightest.

From the utterly pissed off 'Fuck That Fascist Beat' and 'Heads Down, Fingers Up' to the mellower sounds that will invade your brain 'The Coital Staircase' and 'Drugskill' to the distorted, basement groove 'American Carrion' and 'Angel Grinder', American Carrion hits a note for damn near everyone. 

Of course, even though I love the album, I can't just pour out nothing but love. I have to give my admittedly minor nitpicks. 'The Coital Staircase' is a longer, slow song, so putting it right near the beginning didn't really suit my tastes. 'Methmouth' is probably the weakest song on the album - I just really wish it would have had some vocals to go with it. But those are really all the complaints I have. Just two minor nitpicks that I'll get over in like, a day's time.

Fanale is the epitome of an industrial workhorse, putting out release after release, with a smattering of EPs, albums and singles that were delivered to us in 2017. Leading off this year with American Carrion, I can't wait to see what else is left in his sack of gimmicks that he'll inevitably pour over us like some sort of malevolent, bald Santa Claus delivering dark, distorted Christmas gifts.

But even if this is the only thing he puts out this year? It's still already safe to say that Caustic put out one banger of a fucking album that'll be on a whole lot of Industrial Album Of The Year lists in eleven months.