Review Summary: With a heavier, faster and thrashier sound, The Exploited have shied away from their hardcore punk roots and consequently released an album full of pure, vile aggression.
By 1990 The Exploited had already been together for just over a decade, and had also gained themselves a small albeit devoted following in their home country of Scotland. However, it had also been three years since the very much average “Death before Dishonour” made its way into the Punk Rock world, and in those three years it seemed that Wattie Buchan and Co. were at loggerheads with each other. Willie Buchan, the band's guitarist from their foundation until 1988, had left the band for personal reasons, and Wattie himself decided that it was time for an instantaneous musical shift. This musical shift would form the band's modern sound that still resonates with many of their devoted fans today, and is strongly reminiscent of traditional Thrash Metal.
1990 saw the release of The Exploited's sixth and up until then heaviest album, “The Massacre”, and you only have to listen to the title track to definitively know that The Exploited were firmly rooted in all things fast, heavy, and as usual, extreme. Replacing Willie Buchan as guitarist, it seems that Gogs had fully embraced his newly appointed position, as there is not one track on the album that finishes without a staggeringly well executed solo. The solos were clearly one of the minor highlights of “Death...”, but this time round they have much more variation and a style that is more in touch with the thrashy tendencies of early Slayer then it does with Crossover Thrash. Not only that, but they are much longer as well, and although there is no song on “The Massacre” which falls under the three-minute mark (something that the previous Exploited albums didn't actually consist of), the solos work very well indeed.
As for the other instruments, nothing has really changed, but the bass, drums and even vocal work have been improved upon impressively. The bass and drum work flow together endlessly on each particular song, and at times they even have their own moments to shine, as on the aptly titled '*** Religion' and battering 'Don't pay the Poll Tax'. Even when the guitar work seems to dominate everything at times, there is still room left for the other instruments to make themselves known and wreak havoc on everything in sight.
The vocals are also improved, but unfortunately they are overshadowed somewhat by the guitar work being slightly too high in the mix. Right from the opening madness of the title track, it's hard to ignore the stylistic changes of Gogs' rumbling guitar work, even when Buchan is screaming such aggressive slogans as “Join the army learn new Skills/Learn to kill and maim your friends” (Now I'm Dead) and “See these Missiles in the air/All these Missiles just for you/Pointed at me pointed at you/You're about to Die” (About to Die). Even on the memorable 'Dog Soldier', which features a set of lyrics that are simply dominated by the title of the song, chanted by each member of the band, Gogs' guitar work can sometimes seem as if it's showing off slightly.
Conceptually and structurally speaking, not much has changed, as The Exploited have always been and probably always will be a politically charged group of punks at heart. Such graphic themes as child molestation and cruelty to the elderly (Sick Bastard), the power of Religion (*** religion) and nuclear warfare (About to Die, Blown out of the Sky) dominate the lyrical content as the equally as riotous instrumentation surges along with such visceral speed and agility.
Depending on whether you are fond of the band or not, the structure of each of their songs never seemed to change on any of their albums. On “The Massacre” this is obvious, but there are one or two different songs that keep the listener's interest after a while. The gloriously introduced 'Boys in Blue', a clear reference to the police, shows no sign of Wattie's presence for the first minute or so, thus using the listener's attention to its advantage, whereas on the slower-paced 'Blown out of the Sky', with its somewhat marching rhythm, none of the instruments ever really move or pick up the pace, and in all honesty, it could well be the album's true weakness. On the other hand, there will be obvious shouts of “filler” when one judges the first half of the album, as it is very much a cloned structure, suggesting that the second half is indeed where it becomes slightly more interesting as a sound.
In a year that bore such thrashy classics as “Rust in Peace”, “Seasons of the Abyss” and even “Persistence of Time”, “The Massacre” does appear to try hard to be heavier, faster and nastier than everything else, yet it is only held back via the guitars being too high in the mix and the fact that the simplistic song structures may bore the hell out of some people. It is The Exploited's sixth album, yet thankfully it also appears to be have been their crowning achievement thus far.
