### Philip Anselmo And The Illegals / Warbeast: War of the gargantuas

#### 31/01/13 || Sokaris

In the realms of extreme metal Philip Anselmo is kind of an interesting character. We all know who he is, being the voice of one of the biggest bands under the heavy metal banner. And there’s plenty of us that don’t necessarily think Pantera deserved their status and sales. That’s another article for another time but the fact does bear relevance here. Phil has an uphill battle with a lot of listeners despite the fact that he’s done plenty of work within the underground extreme music scene.

Enter Philip Anselmo And The Illegals with Texas thrashers Warbeast.

This is a much better split than I expected. I’ll admit I was skeptical of Phil since I’ve never been a Down fan and I thought Superjoint Ritual was unlistenable. First song “Conflict” kicks things off with plenty of energy, a great pair of tremolo riffs and a Malevolent Creation-esque sendoff at the end. It drags on just a little bit but it’s a powerful piece of piss and vinegar.

Alternating tracks, Warbeast deliver a blasty, thrashy anthem with a rapid fire yet catchy chorus line in “Birth of a psycho”, delivering the thrash breakdown like it was done back in the day. Which makes sense considering this band basically started as Gammacide with one of the Rigor Mortis dudes.

The other pair of songs both present ever so slightly different tweaks on the formulae presented in the first couple. We get to see a little more groove (though plenty of fury still present) and this time it’s Warbeast’s turn to drag out a conclusion a bit too long.

Surprisingly strong stuff all around but my sole complaint is the vocals for both bands. Phil is somewhat inconsistent, sounding alternately awesome and tired while Bruce Corbitt (the aforementioned Rigor Mortis dude) is mostly just reminding me of Oderus from Gwar or a better version of those horrible barks on Lair Of The Minotaur’s CDs. Not bad, just doesn’t quite mesh.

7/10: Tumultuous Texas thrash is given a gritty reboot, starring a grizzled metal celebrity reinventing himself and some hardened veterans of the craft.