There are some bands in the metal genre that take themselves way too seriously. (As I write this, I'm thinking of a metal band that I saw a few months back who ripped up a Bible in a moment of such pompous seriousness, I almost fell over laughing.) As such, Tim Labesis' new side project, Austrian Death Metal, brings some welcome fun back into the scene.

This disc is not intended to be deep and meaningful, dark and dangerous, a sensitive tribute to Satan or anything of the sort. Tim Lambesis describes the disc as "a tribute to the great Arnold movies. It is a band fronted by Ahhnold with music I wrote and recorded in my free time. But, most importantly, I had so much fun!"

This disc intersperses short spoken word vignettes from an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator with thrash metal tunes set to lyrics from das Ahnold's movies. Tim says that "Austrian Death Machine is exactly what you should hear from a heavy band:

- a continuously fast paced tempo you can always circle pit to
- the obvious build up to a breakdown you'll know how to mosh to
- classic sing alongs to pile up and sing along with
- a guitar solo in every song

And yes... I would never leave out the obvious key component. Cliché vocals that sound really angry! None of this scary screaming with makeup or goofy lows that we can all make under our breath."

Tim and company just released their first video:

Austrian Death Machine "Get To The Choppa"


"Get In the Choppa" should give you a good idea as to what the rest of the disc sounds like. On one of the spoken words pieces, 'Arnold' says "...of course [the songs] all sound the same because they all sound brutal".

Even though this disc plays on every cliche (there is a 'hidden track' on the disc entitled "Not So Hidden Track"), it is still great stuff. Who says that metal has to be about dark lyrics and bible ripping?

I would have guessed that Austrian Death Machine was just a one-time studio project but Tim & the band are playing two shows this month:

Sep 19 2008 8:00PM, The Nitty Gritty, Rancho Cucamonga, California
Sep 20 2008 5:00PM, 98KUPD End of Summer Scorcher - Peoria Sports Complex Phoenix, Arizona

Links:
Austrian Death Machine's MySpace Page
Metal Blade