Just one quick look at the cover of Thrown (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions), the debut album from Philadelphia duo Red Brick, tells you everything you need to know. The next twenty minutes or so is not going to be an easy ride.

Originally a three-piece, the band now simply comprises drummer Chris Penrod and Mag Stephens on pretty much everything else. Combining the heaviest, most brutal forms of Sludge, Grindcore, Death Metal, Crust Punk, and Hardcore along with an equally heavy sociopolitical commentary, Red Brick tackle real-world issues like substance abuse, executive incompetence, blind consumerism, and performative activism. In short, this is not a bouncy little record you stick on before meeting a friend. Unless that friend happens to be Luigi Mangione.

Every lyric, every thunderous crash of drums, and every painfully distorted power chord is designed purely to force the listener into confronting modern society’s biggest, darkest problems. The message is clear: the world is fucked up, but you can still do something about it. From the slow, lurching riff of no-nonsense opener “Lies” to its warning that, “This will not end how you fucking want it to!”, every subsequent track appears to be built on a foundation of bitterness, tears,s and hatred. “Wage” lumbers into the fray wielding another crushingly slow riff, this time accompanied by whispered vocals, all of which eventually erupt into an explosion of drums, chaotic distortion, and screaming bile.

“No Amends” is another thunderous blast of anger while “Incompetence” switches between a slow brutal grind and violent alacrity, unadulterated resentment aimed towards leaders and corporate bosses with lyrics like, “You have no idea what real work is!”. 

“The Price” is a brutal queer resistance anthem delivered with firsthand experience and authority by Stephens, its sole intention to bring that community together and take action against the violence and oppression exerted upon them on a daily basis. “Asphalt” follows, its brief one and a half minutes dripping with venom before “D-FENS” closes the record, this final perfectly weighted slab of ultra-violence based on the classic and still all too relevant nineties Michael Douglas movie Falling Down. 

Twenty of the bleakest, painfully realistic minutes you will ever experience, Thrown is pretty much everything a growing social realist needs. What the record might lack in subtlety, it more than makes up for with spite, indignation, despair, resentment and desperation. Raw, uncompromising brutality with a positive message. 

Buy the album here:
https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/thrown

8 / 10
GARY ALCOCK
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