"Outstanding, superb, a sure favorite amongst all metal-heads" -
crushyourskull.com

"Look out!! The s has hit the fan and splattered across the windows!!" --
ruckus music inc.

"Our ears will never be the same" --
human mistake monthly

Ok……..nuff said. The above quotes are pure jest. However, they might make cool zine names if one were so inclined. On to the review…

ANIMOSITY! A brutal assault (cliché #1) of pure destructive (cliché #2) nuclear angst (brand new cliché #3) and rage (cliché #4) that absolutely crushes every corner of this earth. Truly a great new band. Animosity is a diverse oceanic tide pool of barnacles that suck blood, starfish that beam evil, moray eels that sever your Achilles with one clipping bite and sinister mermaids that submerge in sand, awaiting the ever-present tourist to frolic unknowingly by and then pull them beneath. Super tight, death \ metal \ hardcore \ techmetal all crashing upon you like the shore break at Waimea Bay. Mike Stewart(God of Body Boarding) might shit his pants at the wave size of Animosity….a full on, band of consequence.

Chugging riffs that surface from the depths in both breakdown form and groove with a salty mixture of metal-guitar screams and stinging, sand-in-the eye string tweakings thrown out amidst the storming riff work. There are a ton of great hardcore metal breakdowns throughout and they never get old. The guitar sound is super great and perfect for their style. It's of that really heavy, crisp as hell death metal. With the added groove, you get a feeling of early 90's death metal.

Blazing, hateful-scornful vocals that turn on you - like a hungry great white shark being fed by divers in a cage - and become pure guttural (yet not garbled) cannibal corpse-ish death roars. These two styles are divvied up almost equally.

Great bass and drum work that must be fun as hell to play. Lots of variety to adjust to in each song like a steep bank of sucking water that when stood on, causes your feet to shift about looking to maintain a steady balance, constant shuffling, hopping and side-stepping. Plenty of cool double-bass poundings and gallops that are not drowning out, just blasting you from behind like the spit from a bonzai pipeline barrel.

Lyrically, there are a lot of angst filled moments, F - you (not literally), discontent, and bitter hostility….Animosity? Yes, the band is practicing what their name preaches.

Verdict: Young band that has already pumped out a terrific debut. If they keep things together and have the time to continue to invest in their music (they are quite young and interests \ pursuits change) they could truly rise to the top. Great record for fans of death metal that lies atop a hardcore foundation that is angry as hell.

written by Pete Faher

Playing time: 22 min