Believe it or not, while I may have heard of Biohazard for nearly 30 years, I have never actually listened to a single album. Sure, I’ve heard a good many songs on compilations, samplers and watched music videos, so I have a relatively good idea of what they sounded like. Now as for this solo album, while it’s rather eclectic it definitely still has his punk sensibilities about it, but with plenty of groove to go with the aggression. While I haven’t been able to confirm a line-up, what I’ve pieced together is that Simo Perini is on drums, Ra Diaz on bass, with Dan Palmer laying down some leads to accompany Billy, hopefully the liner notes on an actual hard copy should confirm that.
Wasting absolutely no time to get up to speed, opening track and first single “Freedom’s Never Free” is a raucous foot stomper that has Billy rattling off the lyrics great pace, but then he has a lot to say in a very short time.
Keeping the songs short allows him to get plenty of them on the album and title track “Feed The Fire” is exactly that, short and punchy with a very singable chorus, and literally littered with lead breaks.
“No Apologies, No Regrets” feels almost subdued after the first two tracks, until the bass solo ends and the drums rush in to pick up the pace tremendously and flip you on your head, then alternating between the two tempos to great effect.
If you want to sing-a-long, then “Generation Z” is awesome. It’s got a catchy rhythm and tune, with the chorus being very easily chantable, as the rumbling bass would vibrate your internal organs when played at volume.
A relatively straight forward choppy riff and steady beat is used on “Sick And Tired” to give it a hardcore feel before dropping into a short interlude with buzzy guitars and effects on “Remedy”, then straight back into Biohazard feeling “Sodality” with rap vocals over the heavy guitars and bouncy rhythm.
Slow but angry chanted vocals are joined by the guitars and drums to bring “Rise and Slay” up to speed, they then follow the galloping pace of the rolling drums and staccato guitars, being infused with more and more venom as the song progresses.
The back and forth of the vocals on “STFU” shall definitely get a crowd going in a live setting, while the weird sounds of “Trepidation” may work as another interlude on the album and for a quick water break on stage, it certainly wouldn’t whip anyone into a frenzy, that’s for certain.
For some reason I’m seeing Kid Rock in my head when “Untruth” starts, but that’s most likely the rhythm and rap being used, with a buzzy guitar sound and way too many effects on the vocals. However, after that, the guitar rhythm is actually rather inoffensive with the vocal melody complementing the rapping rather well.
Rapid near blast beats get thrown in the “Enemy” to up the ante before there’s a mid-tempo breakdown at the end which takes us into the gloomier “Disaffected World” with its slow group vocal on the chorus, where the ultra-rapidly spat out verses add to the emotional tone of the chorus. Winding you down to end the album.
I think the best feature if the album is that no two songs are the same, so he hasn’t fallen into the trap of being one dimensional, but it still has a rather distinct guitar sound will appeal to fans of Biohazard.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
Leave a Reply