Kamikaze Missions

Album Review

Almost a hundred years ago, the German composer Paul Hindemith proposed the idea of Gebrauchsmusik, music composed with a specific functional purpose in mind — sort of like furniture. Fast forward to 2004, and the idea is still alive, whether they know it or not, in the work of hardcore bands like Backstabbers Inc. In this case, the music's functional purpose is either deep emotional catharsis or actual physical beatdown — take your pick. Through blood-on-the-ceiling rants like "You Brought This on Yourself" ("Welcome to hell/Your days are numbered"), "We Attack at Dusk" ("While you are sleeping we will be walking these streets hunting for these throats that need to be silenced") and "Distortion, Please" ("This is cancer, right?"), Backstabbers Inc exorcises demons of just about every conceivable shape and size. No surprises there. What is surprising is the band's sense of humor, which, while not exactly obvious in its bludgeoning guitar attack and caterwauling vocals, comes across pretty clearly on song titles like "I Don't Care How Many Times You've Seen Fight Club, You Are Not Tyler Durden" and "Even Slaves Will Be Swimming in the Blood of the Iron Fist"." OK, so maybe they're no Weird Al Yankovic, but compared to, like, Ramallah, these guys are pretty funny.