Rating: 9.1

Country: Canada

Release Date: 2005

Record Label: Great White North

Track list:
1. Forgotten Skeleton
2. By The Reaping Hook
3. Rotten By Torture
4. Green Goblin
5. Frozen Aggressor
6. Forsaken Survival
7. Mutilator/ Beware Of The Scarecrow
8. Kachina Dolls
9. Bloody Massacre Carnival
10. Demolition
11. The Final Massacre

Band Website: Aggression AD

Aggression AD - Forgotten Skeleton

Burn- Guitar
Dug- Bass
Sasquatch- Guitar
Botcher- Vocal
Gate- Drums

The next time you find yourself amongst a congregation of rabid metalheads, try sparking a conversation on vintage Canadian death/thrash. Undoubtedly, the name Voivod will surface multiple times, followed by enthused discussions on the likes of Razor, Exciter and Dead Brain Cells. A few arbitrary mentions may be spared to Slaughter and Sacrifice, depending on the quality of the company you keep, but you'd be VERY hard-pressed to encounter the name Aggression. It's all a fucking shame, really, that Aggression's name has never achieved the namedrop status that some of their more illustrious Canuck** brethren have reached, as they have from their inception matched their more celebrated peers in rabid savagery and ramshackle raucousness.

Much of this could perhaps be attributed to the band's somewhat unprolific nature, the band managing but one long player in their brief career, the outrageously nasty Full Treatment, a record which sat comfortably amongst the likes of Abominations of Desolation, Scream Bloody Gore and Eternal Fall as a masterpiece in primal, suffocating barbarity. For whatever reason, their debut record, Forgotten Skeleton, never made it on store shelves, and has been languishing in utter obscurity for the past 21 years, only to be exhumed from the frosty bowels of Quebec this year. While I feel this release will do little in the way of winning new acolytes to the Aggression cause, it is truly a joy to FINALLY own this recording in a legitimate form. I'm a little miffed at the fact that the booklet is so skimpy (print is somewhat amateurish, no liner notes, etcetera), but really, as far as Aggression goes, I'll take anything I can get.

Stylistically, Forgotten Skeleton isn't too far removed from, say, Seven Churches, though the similarities between Aggression and Possessed are as apt as parallels between Death Strike and Hellhammer. Instead, one might approach Aggression as Possessed playing Repulsion's crustiest, most Discharge-slanted material. Just as Paul Speckmann's Death Strike served as the more linear, upbeat cousin to Hellhammer's primordial, misanthropic sludge, Aggression provides a punkier, more obnoxious counterpart to Possessed's bloodstained macabre thrash. The differences between the two outfits are minute in parts, gaping in others, the subtle grindy flourishes that Aggression infuse into their marauding malevolence slashing through the dense death-thrash foliage, aligning them with likeminded Toronto kin Slaughter.

Opening instrumental “Forgotten Skeleton” sets the tone for what will ensue- reckless, maliciously thrashy riffing, urgent, cackhanded, rolls-stumbling-over-blasts percussion, a bestial bruiser bristling with nude aggression. “By The Reaping Hook” follows suit with a nefarious, early-Slayer-on-amphetamines passage, shifting into a stampeding crust-tinged verse section that swells and escalates until it positively EXPLODES in the chorus section. A duo of unnervingly melodic solos adorn the bridge before the track degenerates into a nebulous, frenzied fit of feral ferocity, vocalist Botcher spewing putrid filth all over the messy proceedings. The formula throughout the disc adheres largely to this template- at times it appears as though drummer Gate is trying desperately to catch up with the breakneck antics of Sasquatch and Burn (who exhibit some truly ASTOUNDING guitar duels on this disc), seemingly unable to do anything other than blast in Cryptic Slaughter fashion, anxiously striving to throw a sporadic fill in between the frenetic madness.

As messy as Aggression get, however, they are always conscious of the importance of the almighty RIFF, throwing in a good number of NECKSNAPPING thrash breaks to intersect the relentless violence. The riff 48 seconds through “Green Goblin” is pure molten metallic GOLD, an absolute behemoth of a riff that precedes another monolithic Terrible Certainty flavored winner at the 01:24 mark. The epic 8+ minute closer “Final Massacre” provides a delightful counterpoint to the cruel cacophony that comes before it, a somewhat slower, more typically thrash number interspersed with a number of brief doomy sections. In many senses, Aggression shares the aesthetic approach of Vulcano on Bloody Vengeance, striking an immaculate balance between finesse and sloppiness, alternating animalistic, near indecipherable brutality and more calculated, riff-driven sections, each second delivered with frightening conviction. On “Final Massacre”, however, the sonic template more closely resembles Sepultura's Schizophrenia, a rampaging torrent of impetuously stacked riffs that succeed one another with a seamless flawlessness, each one even more lethal than the last.

As a bonus, Great White North has included three early demo tracks on this gem, which appear to lean more towards Aggression's punkier leanings than even the Forgotten Skeleton material. The bass is more prevalent/punchier in this sludgier mix than Forgotten Skeleton (where the bass, at times, seems woefully under-represented in a treble-inclined mix) , and the bass drum thuds and thumps with an apocalyptic resonance. There is a definite Cronos** tinge to Botcher's vocal approach here, which I definitely love, and the songwriting is generally of the same quality as that on Forgotten Skeleton, walking the tightrope between raised-fist crustcore, nervous thrash and carnivorous death metal. I am unsure of whether these tracks were recorded prior to or after the Forgotten Skeleton sessions, as there is virtually no gap between the two artistically, though as mentioned the demo tracks do exhibit a more early D.R.I./Motörhead approach (especially ‘'Torment Of Death”, a real speed metal barnstormer with call and response chorus and Lemmy vocals!). Regardless, the tracks KILL.

What more has to be said, really? I would absolutely file this right next to classics like Strappado, Seven Churches, Torment In Fire and Darkness Descends, and would go so far as to assert that this deserves an unhallowed space on the altar of every self-respecting metalhead. Aggression have flown far below the rader for FAR too long now, please take this opportunity to rectify this unfortunate situation. Next time the topic of Canadian death metal is sparked, you will be armed with a new name to drop. A classic record on its own, as well as an important historical document, which, along with Procreation's demos, hints at the genesis of Canadian ‘'war'' metal as pioneered by Blasphemy.

August 11th, 2005