Brutal Truth

Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses (1990)

eatdogs

Ex-Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and Stormtroopers of Death bass

guitarist Dan Lilker formed Brutal Truth in 1990. They were one of America’s best

Grindcore acts and arguably released the best Grindcore album of all time, Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses.

The band became well known in the American underground metal

scenes. Their live shows were spastic and left many in shock and awe as they

lay witness to the pummeling ferocity of the band. Drummer Scott Lewis was a

beast behind his kit and became known for pioneering the Hyper Blast drumming

style which Crytopsy drummer Flo Mounier made popular later on.

Extreme Conditions…

is the debut album by Brutal Truth and it has become legendary in the scene. Just

like Napalm Death’s Scum or later

albums such as The Inalienable Dreamless

by Discordance Axis and Inhale/Exhale

by Nasum, Extreme Conditions… laid

the groundwork for many acts to follow and to this day there is always something

being carried along from band to band that owes a debt back to Brutal Truth.

For a Grindcore album, it is quite lengthy going on over 45

minutes with about 15 tracks, but not all songs are too long. “Collateral

Damage” is the shortest coming in at about 0:04 seconds (*Once the Guinness World Record for “Shortest Music Video”*). Second

track “Birth of Ignorance” is a grower and trots along like a T-rex ready to

eat its prey. Once the guitars of Brent "Gurn" McCarty start

sharpening and shredding you know they mean business. Lilker’s bass is also

front and center on the album mixing in well with Lewis’s ferocious drumming,

but the glue holding it all together is vocalist “belcher” Kevin Sharp. He is

no Seth Putnam or Chris Barnes and that is a good thing! His growling and shrieks

are top notch and he even throws in a bit of Hardcore Punk vocal style by way

of classic acts like Repulsion and Siege.

First song I ever heard from this band was “Walking Corpse”

and to this day, it is still my favorite. I even tried to get my wedding dj to

sneak it in during the reception dinner but he chose to help keep me from being

in the doghouse for a year by not playing it and instead played that one Fugazi

track I asked for (Thanks Micah…).

Lyric wise, this album sets itself apart from the rest and

is mainly political, which is the type of Grindcore I like. If I wanted to

listen to the gory stuff, I could find that elsewhere easily. Funny to say, but

Gridcore with “substance” is nice. The album art is also striking with its many

pictures of worldly chaos and icons. You can get an idea from just looking at the

cover as to what this will be like. I like it when metal bands actually try

hard to make interesting artwork for their albums and not just some blood

soaked body or charcoal pastel landscapes with unreadable bands names to invoke

a certain type of mood.

Some other great tracks to check out are “H.O.P.E.” with its

driving force, “Stench of Profit” for those glorious blasts beats, and “Time”

for its chugging length and epic heaviness. Overall though the album is quite

the showpiece and a solid contained unit of ferocity and anger exploding like

an atom bomb once it gets started.

Extreme

Conditions Demand Extreme Responses

came out 27 years ago and since then it has only gotten better like fine wine.

Here is another Metal 101 album you need to hear, so go dig it!