Joe D. Carpenter - Songs For The Damned

EP number four from the prolific Joe D. Carpenter, 'Songs For The Damned', cements his stature as a pretty damned good songsmith, to say the least. I've praised his EP series before but it has to be done again. It's such an innovative and ingenious idea which Joe utilizes to the fullest. As before he keeps to one direction without mixing styles together and that's one of the main beauties with the series. Doing it this way keeps his massive flow of ideas cohesive, on point and in your face.
The EP starts off in an eerie, trippy kind of way with the title track. A soft electric guitar plays slowly over disturbing sounds before launching into the Vader-esque 'Occam's Razor' which comes at you at 200 mph. Heavy, relentless with a great solo it definitely sets the bar high. 'Crown Of Horns' slows things down a touch but the heaviness remains, as this one pounds the breath out of me. The vocals in the chorus add a wonderful twist with the Layne Staley-sounding vocals.
Knuckledragging, sinister and full of spite, 'The Judas Cradle' shows no mercy as Joe slays backstabbers and Janus-faced people. The mid-tempo serves the punishment he lashes out perfectly and it makes the wonderful guitar solo erupt. Back to neck breaking pace on 'Primitive Origin' as I bang the hell out of my poor nape...and I love it! The instrumental 'Zeitgeist' closes out this fantastic EP. The backdrop is almost black metal in approach in the verses while the choruses are old-school thrash metal with amazing solos played throughout. It's the odd one out but it works so well with the EP as a whole. And best of all...I fucking love it!
As before Joe goes from strength to strength with each release and I, for one, am grateful because I get to hear his great music and experience his amazing creativity. So many artists out there either take too damned long to record stuff while others dishes out stuff without any thought behind it. Joe side steps all this because even though his recorded output is fast, what he creates gets better and better. And when that's the case, why sit on your songs? 'Songs For The Damned' is excellent proof of all this and it's a joy to destroy my head and neck letting loose to this wonderful creation.
- Swedebeast