Anyone who's seen RINGWORM live knows their brand of raucous metal reaches its filthy hand down your throat and rips out your airless lungs with the aggression of a furious chupacabra. And the same can be said about their studio albums, which is a difficult feat to accomplish. I'm a big fan of "Hammer of the Witch", "Justice Replaced By Revenge" and "Scars". Seventh studio album "Snake Church" doesn't disappoint. Opening track 'Snake Church' rips through your ear canal with the speed of a thousand screaming banshees. 'Brotherhood of the Midnight Sun' continues the aural attack, never letting up. If there's one thing you can count on from vocalist James Bulloch, guitarists Matt Sorg and Mark Witherspoon, bassist Ed Stephens and drummer Ryan Steigerwald, it's the consistency of blistering rhythms and throat-punching vocals through each and every track. Album to album, live show to live show, they attack your senses and put you in the small little place to which you belong. The swirling malevolence of 'Destroy or Create' and the slowed down yet heavy "Shades of Blue" wrap up the first half of "Snake Church".
The Cleveland, Ohio apostles start the second half with a drum-pummelling, punk induced 'Innocent Blood', including a searing guitar solo to wake the dead. 'The Apparition' feels like a constant set of breakdowns and scaling riffage to pulverize your equilibrium. And so it goes throughout the rest of the album. Does it ever let up? No. Are there any ridiculous and annoying experiments or piano solos? Hell no. Any long-winded horror movie samples? For god's sake, no. RINGWORM doesn't fuck around. You want punk-infused metal? You got it. So crank it up, leave room in your living room to move around and destroy things. And raise your fists in the air. RINGWORM does not and will never disappoint.
