Though the band's previous releases have not been objectively poor at all, most of them left a little bit to be desired. With the release of Conviction, it seems as if Soilent Green has definitively settled upon their sonic identity. Though the gumbo of styles still remains, Collapse boasts Soilent Green's most cohesive sound yet.

Said sound comes in various forms of unbreakable groove. Be it churning sludge, raw speed riffing, or even the random clean guitar lick, everything on Collapse maintains a sense of memorable rhythm. As a result, the album is more accessible and natural in its progression than any previous Soilent Green recording.

The first three songs alone are proof of this. "Mental Acupuncture," for example, toys with majestic sludge and chaotic death metal arrangements at the same time. "Blessed in the Arms of Servitude," meanwhile, lays the smack down with grooves both technical and gutsy, hitting that sweet spot between primal aggression and premeditated violence. "In the Same Breath," finally, begins with a rootsy acoustica interlude before cutting up ear canals with raw chords inspired by the work of a pig butcher.

Such early brutality does not mean that Collapse putters out early on. "Superstition Aimed at One's Skull," for example, mixes stoner bass with crushing, down-South sludge. "For Lack of Perfect Words," meanwhile, takes a straightforward dose of grind's brutality and buries it under a ton of mud. After this, "All This Good Intention Wasted in the Wake of Apathy" stutters with some of the album's most breakneck riffs, that rare kind of monster guitar which sounds like a careening tank.

Never once in its forty one minutes does Collapse lose sense of this dirtiness, groove, or aggression. In the same way that Pantera stopped worrying about genres and just began knocking dicks in the dirt, so too does Soilent Green let loose here. Frontman Ben Falgoust never wavers from his bourbon-soaked howls, while the rest of the band spins chaotic mania out of thin air. Though this is not 2008's best metal album, it sure has a lot of heart. Take a listen to this and hear what simplistic and raw music sounds like when done by truly dedicated musicians.

Soilent Green's Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction
Mental Acupuncture
Blessed in the Arms of Servitude
In the Same Breath
Antioxidant
Lovesick
Rock Paper Scissors
Superstition Aimed at One's Skull
For Lack of Perfect Words
When All Roads Lead to Rome
All This Good Intention Wasted in the Wake of Apathy
A Pale Horse and the Story of the End

Soilent Green - Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction

Rating:8.0

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