CD REVIEWS: ‘TOTALITARIAN SODOMY’
by Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman
Cox News Service
February 15, 2007 Thursday
[parts omitted]
Artist: World Burns to Death
CD title: ‘Totalitarian Sodomy’
Convinced that humanity is dragging the planet to hell as fast as
wars and massacres can process the victims, World Burns to Death
chronicles man’s inhumanity to man via the most hellacious hardcore
punk it can generate. Corpse-like rings around his eyes, singer Jack
Control jumps into the abyss and screams out the details.
Where the band’s obsessions once seemed strictly Holocaust-related,
its sophomore full-length expands the list of atrocities: "Back to
Zero" howls at the Khmer Rouge, "Triumph of Evil" engages Rwanda and
"All the Young Turks" examines the Armenian genocide.
Like almost all 21st century hardcore, WB2D’s savage music
is recombinant stuff. But its component parts – the chaos of
Scandinavian punk, the speed of Japanese punk, black metal and death
metal’s free-floating rage – are detectable only to fellow record
collectors. More folks will just hear sharp, filthy hardcore.
Though this album’s unprintable cover was designed by legendary
Japanese punk Sakevi Yokoyama, Control elegantly art-directs all
of the band’s relentlessly dark sleeve graphics. From the iconic,
Chaya-font symbol to the detailed liner notes, WB2D is excellent at
creating a cultish, total environment, a charnel house where hope
exists only if you bring it with you.