For an angry, depressed, and angst-filled teenager, nothing else quite aligned with the way I felt like Blood for Blood did - while I couldn’t relate to the violence, references to alcohol or drug abuse, I could relate to the feelings of frustration, failure, and the like. It was somewhat validating that I wasn’t the only one who felt the way I did, however maligned or emotionally stunted the message actually was. This record seems to predate White Trash Rob’s outwardly Masshole persona that was captured so eloquently in his live banter and in later releases - there’s no comedic relief of a explicative-ridden rant during a breakdown, or as an intro / outro - just pure rage, angst, spite from the jump. Listening for the first time in decades, in the bridges, breakdowns or outros, I’m expecting White Trash Rob to come in and make me laugh - but that rant never comes (the closest we get to this is on the last song, Redemption Denied, but there’s nothing really funny about it). The entire album is extremely dark - most tough-guy bands like this aim their anger outwards, but the entire record is an admission of misery, shortcomings, failure, and no future. No wonder my parents were so concerned about me in my teenage years when I was listening to stuff like this all the time.
The vocals are very similar to our friend Paul Bearer from Sheer Terror, even with the odd sing-song part - but musically there’s less of a Celtic Frost influence and just straight up 90’s heavy scally-cap core, plodding at times. The aforementioned Redemption Denied trudges along unnecessarily for almost 10 minutes (!!) - making it about 7 minutes too long. By the time you’re at the end of this one you need to put on something uplifting just to continue your day - or finish your bottle of whiskey and off yourself already.