Rating: 7.3

Country: USA

Release Date: 2003

Record Label: Willowtip

Track list:
1. The Burden of Choice
2. Catalepsy of Fear
3. Conference Call Immolation
4. Maddening Assault [MP3]
5. Civic Bloodlust
6. Great Misleader
7. Demonically Entrenched
8. Sheathed in Blood
9. The Wrong End of Living
10. Multitask Suicide
11. Nihilism and Despair
12. The Widening Stain
13. Jesus is Coming
14. Irrational Hate Soaked Fury
15. Wallet Sized Dental Records
16. Mildewed Death Trap
17. Repent and Perish
18. Trial by Barrage
19. Steaming Pile of Outcome Measures

Total playing time: 29:48

Band Website: Watchmaker

Watchmaker - Kill. Fucking. Everyone.

Brian Livoti - Vocals
Paul Vaughan - Guitar
Nick Kirlis - Bass
Michael Garret - Drums
Paul - Guitars

Imagine if Slayer had written 'Reign In Blood' not as a bunch of sheltered World War II/horror movie/serial killer fanatics barely out of their teens, but as genuinely angry men in their late 20s/early 30s who had been slogging away, trying to move up the corporate ladder, rung-by-rung, doing dehumanizing and spirit-breaking work just to get ahead. Imagine that the blistering speed and bludgeoning heaviness of that record were buttressed with the anger, bitterness and frustration amassed over years of such toil. If you can imagine what that album would have sounded like if such were the case, you should already have a pretty good idea of what Watchmaker's second album, 'Kill. Fucking. Everyone.' sounds like.

This is 19 tracks/30 minutes of pure cathartic energy. Simply the harshest, angriest, most vindictive music you'll ever hear. This record is a whirlwind of C & E chords, blasts and absolutely inhuman screams from vocalist/lyricist/cover artist Brian Livoti. All notions of melody and accessibility are barred from entering by large, 'roid-raging bouncers who proceed to beat the shit out of them just for the hell of it. But unlike bands such as Blasphemy, Beherit, Conqueror, Revenge and that ilk [the 'gasmaskcore' crowd, as I've dubbed them], Watchmaker aren't harsh simply by virtue of sloppy musicianship and intentionally poor production values [to the contrary, the playing here is very tight and the production, while raw, keeps everything quite audible], but riffs that are genuinely brutal, without any of the hamfisted chormatic mosh crap that most newer death metal bands pass for 'brutality.' The lyrical content works perfectly with the music, consisting primarily of expressions of disdain towards modern consumerist society.

Besides the Slayer comparison, one could definitely say this is reminiscent of early Impaled Nazarene at their most unrelenting. To be sure, there is definitely a black metal vibe on this album, but this is not the kind of 'prancing through a Norwegian forest in fake Viking armor while hailing Satan' black metal that the majority of the public is used to. This is more like, 'let there be utter nuclear annihilation all around the globe, I don't give a fuck... hell, I'll even give the launch codes' kind of black metal. The sheer distructive force unleashed in even one of these songs exceeds that of a magnitude 9 earthquake.

Unfortunately, the one major shortcoming of this album is that it really isn't made for repeated casual listening. The whole thing is very one-dimensional, and is only really designed to hold one's interest if they're in the right state of mind [i.e. extremely pissed]. There isn't a whole lot of substance to the songs, from an objective point of view, but then again, the same can be said for a vast majority of grind and black metal. Watchmaker certainly deserve to be commended for creating something this unquestionably manic without resorting to tired metal and punk clichés [seeing these guys live, I was struck by how totally unassuming they all looked - none of that leather/bullet belts crap, all except Livoti dressed entirely in street clothes], though if you're looking for music with a lot of depth and subtlety to it, you won't find it here. But if you're looking to uncork some long-repressed rage, 'Kill. Fucking. Everyone.' is probably your best bet for a soundtrack.

May 10th, 2005