Crackfight - Conflict Spawns Evolution
by James

As far as length of time it takes me to get a review done, Crackfight's debut album, Conflict Spawns Evolution, is heavyweight champion. I have had this damn CD for well over a year, now. The problem is that, until recently, I was not able to fully appreciate how amazing this CD is. When I received it, I was in a mode where my music had to have melody and pretty singing and all that nicety shit. My poor ears just could not handle the visceral onslaught that Crackfight delivers. So, while I loved them as a live band, I just could not handle them on CD. Since then, however, I have developed a strong appreciation for extreme metal, so I popped in Conflict Spawns Evolution about two weeks ago, and it has barely left my CD player, since.

Crackfight's sound, musically, will be very familiar to those that are fans of the whole NOLA sound that bands like Corrosion of Conformity, Soilent Green, Choke, Down, Acid Bath etc. have used to much success. Crackfight, of course, puts their own unique twist to the style, but the basic sound is that of sludgy, blues-tinged, Louisiana metal, with hints of punk and grind thrown in, here and there. The vocals are just about as abrasive as they come, ranging from deep growls to high, raspy screams. Anyone looking for shiny, happy, melodic vocals about love and peace and happiness need to look somewhere else. Jon Breedlove is about as pissed off as any human could ever sound on CD, I think, and it really comes across in his vocal style. The biggest thing I give Crackfight credit for is their ability to be one of the heaviest bands I have ever heard without using a whole lot of double-kick. I have always equated heavy music with large amounts of pounding double bass kicks and Jackie Brock completely kills that theory, opting for putting more emphasis on keeping thing interesting up top. No, Crackfight's heaviness comes from Jon's vocals and the great guitar work of Luke Melancon and Scott Foord. The guitars really seem to drive Crackfight's music and do an excellent job of keeping things interesting for the listener. Scott McElwee brings in the low end in fine form and adds a lot of thickness to their sound. All in all, while I hear a lot of influences in their music, I can not honestly say that Crackfight sounds like any band that I have ever heard before.

If I were to make a complaint about this CD, it would be that all the songs tend to bleed together, the first few times you hear them. None of the songs really stand out as being overly different from the others until you have spent a good deal of time listening to the CD and are able to pick out the nuances of each track. Once you spend some time with the CD, though, songs really begin to stand out and you find yourself screaming along with Jon, although you probably do not totally understand what he is saying.