Dirtfedd: The American Nightmare (2009) Review

I mentioned Dirtfedd a while back as I was first researching metal bands from my home state of Nebraska. They are from Lincoln, and I've lived in Lincoln or within 30 miles of it for the last decade--but I don't really do the whole "scene" thing, so I hadn't heard them until recently.

They are a metalcore band with some industrial influences, the use of a keyboard slightly setting them apart from the droves of other groups in the genre (I understand a lot of them are trying this now, but this is the first I've heard it). I'd say the music is mostly a combination of Hatebreed and Slipknot, but influences from other mainstream hard rock/metal groups like Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold are there too. They are as heavy, angry, and hardcore-influenced as Hatebreed, but have a lot more musicality to their sound, so it doesn't end up idiotic like Hatebreed.

The album starts out fairly strong, and mostly in the Hatebreed vein, with "Salute". The chorus "Drink! Fight! F***! Salute!" should tell you the attitude there. The next few tracks are also decent, and more musical. They take a bad turn on tracks 6, 7, and 8 ("Tonight", "Here I Am", and "Shotgun Romance"), which are way too A7X-sounding for me; I've had enough of modern rock radio, thank you. The album finishes a bit stronger after that, though, so they make up for it a little.



The Verdict: Their style is sometimes better than your average mainstream metalcore, but there's also a lot of crap on the album. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.