Sirhan Sirhan
Blood
Anodyne Records
By Jose Fritz
The real Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was a Rosicrucian and an obsessive, emotionally unstable assassin. How much he changed the future of America cannot be fathomed. But the basics are this: Robert F. Kennedy had won the California primary minutes before his murder and would have gone on to the presidential election. In 1968, George Wallace ran as an independent and took Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia from Nixon. RFK would have swept the balance and likely become our 37th president.
We would never have escalated Vietnam, there would have been no Watergate, nor an impeachment so no President Ford. Without Ford there was no Ford/Reagan feud and therefore no rise of Reagan. No Reagan means no Vice President George H.W. Bush, which also rules out Junior. Meaning ultimately, Junior would not have fucked the dog, leaving America crippled, broke and a shadow of its former self. Naming yourself for Sirhan Sirhan is in effect, reaching into history and finding the single most vile cocksucker responsible for the decline of the most powerful nation in the free world.
One of the original primary functions of rock n’ roll was to offend, to horrify shock and appall the more sensitive and delicate members of the human race. This theme reached it’s apex with the Misfits song “Last Caress” first released on the eve of the dark decade in 1979.
I got something to say, I killed your baby today
And it doesn’t matter much to me, As long as its dead
Well I got something to say, I raped your mother today
And it doesn’t matter much to me, As long as she’s spread
Its function was to exist as a raw affront to our shared value system. It is an artistic statement too, but point being, this was as far as we got. Alice Cooper’s theatrics, G.G. Allin’s fecalphilia, Cannibal Corpse's necrophilia and Marilyn Manson’s faux Satanism didn’t ever match it. Sirhan Sirhan make the most sincere attempt in 25 years and succeed in their name alone.
It’s a strong start for a metalcore band. From there they become sonically overwhelming: thick without being muddy, discordant without being dissonant, violent yet technically sound. The sheer density defies comparison. In other words, this band is about as subtle as an amputee juggling three running gas-powered chainsaws. There is blood, there is violence, there is sweat drenched flailing and then there is Sirhan Sirhan. Jason Blackmore has returned and he is really pissed.
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