Review Summary: Stay hard like me you’re bound to do well
The early 90’s was in a state of flux. As New York hardcore heavyweights Biohazard vehemently declared “It’s the State of the World Address Motherf**kers!!”. And away we go in a mob of poverty driven youth anger and resentment.
Coming off 1992’s “Urban Discipline” and its bruisers “Shades of Grey” and “Punishment”, Biohazard were due to deliver their ultimate statement and for those of us knocking about at the time it didn’t disappoint. It’s an album cast in time and mostly forgotten but when stumbled back into reminds us of that burgeoning era of hardcore meets groove metal. It was a time between crossover thrash and the onset of nu-metal. Whilst Suicidal Tendencies and later Body Count had opened the gate for street influenced metal/core, Biohazard stood primed to tell their tales from the hard side. It’s metal/core because metalcore ain’t yet a term in ‘94.
“State of the World Address” starts on exactly the right note as is to be expected but what isn’t to be expected is a collection of bangers so comprehensively legit as to still have heads (and elbows) swinging more than 30 years later. “Down for Life” nails the downtrodden sentiment and “What Makes Us Tick” doubles down on the inner workings of the crew. Between the dual vocals, gang chants and deep grooves, the hooks abound and there’s certainly no room for subtlety - “If you ain’t f**king down, f**k you!”.
Featuring the classic lineup of Seinfeld, Graziadei, Hambel and Schuler, “State of the World Address” has Biohazard at their best sounding and most memorable with 90’s deep cuts like “Tales from the Hard Side”, “How It Is” and “Five Blocks to the Subway”. “Tales” is pure Hatebreed before they existed with social issues front and centre on the mean streets of Brooklyn at that time before gentrification. The time also bore fellow street-smart upstarts Machine Head who were the West Coast equivalents with their “Burn My Eyes” record but that comparison ends there.
“Remember” provides direct linage to bands like God Forbid and this song was later given an inadvertent sequel in the troops tribute song “To The Fallen Hero” in the “IV: Constitution of Treason” album. Goes to show how many tentacles “State of the World Address” had and its influence on metalcore and nu-metal to evolve later in the decade and into the next.
Musically, the flex in the drum kit was ably exploited by Danny Schuler to give that dangerous snap and feeling of always being on the edge. It’s a crucial detail that’s counter punched by the guitars of Hambel and Graziadei with the former possessing a flair as important to the band as Rocky George was to Suicidals.
Central to the hook in each song is the centrifugal force to the grooves that builds up in songs like “Each Day” and “Failed Territory” and the vision of Hambel in their videos swinging in circles only reinforces the momentum they tap into. The latter track is a bit of an outlier though with an orchestral Latin guitar intro but eventually folds back into the crunchy guitars and gangster observations of “Who whacks who, don’t matter who gets hit” in the “Failed Territory”.
None of this works of course but not for the vocals of the whole collective, led by Graziadei and Seinfeld, spitting and snarling home truths faster than you can be rolled in the projects. There’s so many memorable one liners it’s classic “F**k you and your point of view”. Biohazard were fierce advocates of the oppressed and doubters of the American dream where “Pride” is the only instinct beyond survival. And they certainly don’t appreciate being “Cornered”. Anyone who tells you “Urban Discipline” is better than “State” is fooling, this is peak Biohazard.
I was fortunate to bear witness to the posse in their prime as supports on “The Great Southern Trendkill” tour where they held their own on a major stage, raining down ragers like “Love Denied” which is the closer on this record to provide a permanent imprint on the disaffected youth present there and elsewhere.
