All American Death Cult

Album review

Remember the old days, when the majority of metal acts sang about partaking in the perfect party? Somewhere along the way, it became all about unleashing your inner demons and/or teetering on the brink of insanity. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of Rikets -- a band that is equal parts metal and industrial/electronic, but which never shies away from screaming and hollering its head off. And this is certainly the case throughout their 2010 full-length debut, All American Death Cult. In fact, the album starts off with tracks that alternate between the aforementioned styles, as evidenced by "Designer Drug Hell" and "The Murder" (which sounds like vintage Nine Inch Nails), plus "Program the Dead" and "Vicious" (which sounds like vicious metal). And it turns out that singer "Scott" (don't you just love bands that go with a first names?) has no problem adapting his vocal delivery to the appropriate style, going from Trent Reznor à la "Closer" one minute, to Phil Anselmo à la "I'm Broken" the next. And wouldn't you know it, there's even a tune or two that combines both styles/approaches, most obviously "Sold Me Out" (picture "Trent" on the verse, "Phil" on the chorus...you get the idea). While some young headbangers may be intrigued by the mish-mash of styles on All American Death Cult, it turns out that it's been done before elsewhere -- namely Rob Halford's late-‘90s one-off industrial-metal project, Two (which just happened to be produced by Reznor himself).
© Greg Prato /TiVo