The Harbinger (CD - 2009)

Audio Mixer: Daniel Castleman.

Recording information: Lambesis Studios, San Marcos, CA.

Las Vegas-based death metal band Molotov Solution plays uncompromisingly heavy death metal that incorporates elements of grindcore, doom, and hardcore. Like the group's 2008 debut, HARBINGER is raw and lean, and distinguished from the work of contemporaries by the distinct political nature of songs such as "Warlords," "Rule By Secrecy," and "Enslaved." Throughout, the band questions authority in all its guises, calling out power brokers popular and unpopular alike, all against a brick wall backrop of bone-crushing guitars and guttural, throat-shredding vocals.

This Las Vegas-based band sounds about as different from their home city's other big musical export, the Killers, as is possible. Molotov Solution are a straight-up death metal outfit, combining the downtuned, distorted riffing of Swedish acts like Grave and early Entombed with the grindcore-influenced blasting of politically minded U.S. outfits like Dying Fetus and Misery Index. Like the latter two bands, Molotov Solution offers nods in the direction of political consciousness; track titles like "Rule By Secrecy," "Corpus Imperium" and "Monolithic Apparatus" define the boundaries of their lyrical vision. Of course, frontman Nick Arthur's lyrics are almost totally indecipherable without a CD booklet in hand, so message discipline is a moot point. The focus is on the music which, as produced by As I Lay Dying guitarist Tim Lambesis, is ferocious and catchy at once. A few odd noises in the background (a high-pitched squeal on "Only the Dead," for example) show that they recognize the value of putting in extra effort, but even stripped to basics, Molotov Solution's music gets the job done and more. The riffs inspire headbanging even if one is just sitting on the couch listening on headphones with cable news playing silently in the background; in a live setting, these guys will surely inspire a vicious pit. ~ Phil Freeman minimize