Austrian Death Machine
Double Brutal

November 2009
Released: 2009, Metalblade Recods
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: EvilG

Austrian Death Machine has a bit of a bad rap amongst many true metal puritans because they feel they are some kind metalcore because the music is all by As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis. However, with their second album DOUBLE BRUTAL the overwhelming musical style is thrash metal. What lends even more credence to the album is CD 2 which is chock full of great covers by bands such as Motorhead, Metallica, Judas Priest, Megadeth, etc. The other thing is the great leads found on the album (the awesome Rusty Cooley even shreds it up on a track!!). Even if you are still not that interested, then if you have a sense of humour anything like mine, then there is one thing which completes and puts the band above many others…Austrian Death Machine is fronted by AHHNOLD (voiced by professional voice impressionist, comedian, actor Josh Robert Thompson)!



Although DOUBLE BRUTAL has 24 tracks, they are not all songs…. and therein lies the gold. The spoken sections here are all are hilarious. Of course as a fan of the great Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, it wasn’t a stretch from loving Terminator to loving a song called “I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle”. Brilliant! The band’s first album was decent, but the Arnold voice wasn’t quite up to scratch…this time out they’ve nailed it both with the voice and with the humour. The riffage on most songs is “bruutall” and never wusses out, just like all the good Arnold movies. There is no “Twins” or “Kindergarden Cop” tracks on here…just all out Commando, Total Recall, Terminator, Conan levels of awesomeness. A review of this kind of album just doesn’t do it justice, as analyzing the riffs and song structures is kinda silly when the song is something like “Hey Cookie Monster, Nothing is as Brutal as Neaahhh”. You’d figure that this shtick would wear thin after maybe 10 or so listens…but not for me! I laugh every time the album plays and will surely return to this in a couple of months and still be entertained.



To me, the main thing that will determine how much you love (or dislike) this album will rely more on the type humour you find funny than on how killer you think the riffs, solos, and songs are. For me the music is not ground breaking, but it is well done for what it is…a delivery system for some great "Ahhnold" humor!