MARTYR A.D. - ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HELL

THE BAND: Andy Hart - vocals; Joel Johnson - guitar; Charlie Johnson - guitar; Tara Anderson - bass; Karl Hensel - drums.
THE MUSIC: If the camera adds ten pounds, listening to Martyr A.D.\'s On Earth As It Is In Hell will make you obese. It’s that heavy. The grounding for this mayhem is drummer Karl Hensel, who brutalizes the drum kit with the ever-present double bass pedal. But this five-piece uses every instrument in their arsenal to create a vicious wall of sound, which can be heard in the hellish \"The Last Words Of Any Meaning\", and the following track, \"Beneath The Plague\", both of which could easily be used as the soundtrack to Hell. My only complaint lies within the vocal style of Andy Hart, who screams with such bloody ferocity that your own throat will feel red and raw just listening to it. The downfall to his vocals is that it becomes repetitive and stale after a few songs; on top of that, the lyrics get lost beneath layers of shrieking.
MY PASTOR\'S VERDICT: \"Good God, this music is so vicious and perverse; it’s like kicking baby Jesus in the jewels! Lord have mercy!\"
MY VERDICT: Heavy, man. Heavy.