Riff Police! Pull Over! #67: Slayer Vs Brutality Will Prevail!

When you write and release an album that fans deem to be a masterpiece and no doubt achieves critical acclaim, there is always a question mark over how to follow it up and a certain amount of pressure that comes with that. Australian Progressive Metalcore quintet Polaris and Floridan Metalcore wrecking ball Wage War have both spoken of that with their forthcoming new releases to name but two. Back in December 1987 when Slayer entered the studio to record a follow up to the hugely successful “Reign In Blood” with Rick Rubin, guitarist Jeff Hanneman said “We knew we couldn’t top Reign in Blood, so we had to slow down. We knew whatever we did was gonna be compared to that album, and I remember we actually discussed slowing down. It was weird—we’ve never done that on an album, before or since.” So rather than going faster, they slowed things down, worked on building atmospherics and adding in down toned vocals and even clean guitar parts. The album title track and opener has one of the most recognizable riffs going with a haunting eerie vibe that sets the tone not only for the song, but also for the album.

Welsh Hardcore Kings Brutality Will Prevail have been on the scene since 2005, breaking down doors across Europe like a battering ram. After a line up change that saw vocalist Ajay Jones step away from the band to be replaced by Louis Gauthier in 2012, the band dropped a pair of albums in a 3 year period with 2014’s “Suspension of Consciousness” and 2017’s “In Dark Places”. The growth and style shift between the pair of releases saw the Cardiff 5 piece take on a more somber and darker style with elements of Doom and Groove Metal injected into their brutal Metallic Hardcore. When Holyroar records released a single for “Forever Restless” we did a double take. The familiar strains of “South Of Heaven” are clearly audible within the ever so slightly different eerie haunting riff that gets the tune going. There is no doubting the influence on this one but hats off to guitarist duo Nick Rix and Jordan Murray, who have taken something great and made it there own with style.