Karras - We Poison Their Young

Karras – We Poison Their Young
Release Date: 29th September 2023
Label: M-Theory Audio
Bandcamp
Genre: Old School Death Metal, Grindcore, Punk, Crust.
FFO: Napalm Death, Rotten Sound, Nasum, Lock Up, General Surgery, Pig Destroyer.
Review By: Mark Young

Good Lord!! From Prelude to the Depths to Negative Life, this is the aural equivalent of a brick to the face. Taking their name from Father Damian Karras from the Exorcist, this collection takes cues from Crust, Grind and a heavy dose of OSDM to just pummel. It’s an exercise in getting as much across in the shortest length of time possible, flying past in 20 or so minutes. If its aim is to stomp a hole in you, it does it with a vitality and energy that makes each track just a pure blast.

It’s great that after listening to a lot of complex, progressive music that you get this gifted into your lap to act as a reset switch and give you a welcome jolt of energy. Played live these songs will just cause total carnage such is the way they land, and they squeeze so much into so little time. It’s difficult to actually write an effective review without sounding lame in just saying ‘it’s fast and heavy’. There is more to them than that as they don’t rely on one approach, and they manage to mix it up, even in the shorter songs which makes them sound so good. You can argue all you like about the length, or about how to your ears they sound derivative of the early 90s scene.

Not interested. Music should be appreciated on its merits of how it feels to you, or how it makes you feel. If you like something, then champion it. This is how Karras make me feel. It’s just pure dynamic motion.

What I know is this, an album that takes its cues from both the Exorcist and the Omen and gives you an album that smacks in the same way the good father does when he leaps out of the window (spoiler) and when they do slow with the almost sludge-like Negative Life it shows that there is more to them than just playing fast. Of course, the adrenaline blast that is Prelude to Depths is an absolute stormer of an opener, and the rest that follow adopt the same frenzied approach. They aren’t all blast-fests and to be honest they didn’t have to be effective, they just possess the knack for putting hi-speed tracks together (Unlike HS2).