CLICK HERE for Reviews of Albums by DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles)!
DRI was known as “the fastest band in the world” when they entered the scene as a thrashcore outfit in the early eighties. As the decade continued, DRI kept the intensity while changing up the tempos while they led the punk side of the “crossover thrash” punk/metal movement, alongside bands like SOD, and later, THE EXPLOITED (METALLICA would lead the metal side of the crossover thrash movement, best embodied by 1986’s ‘Master of Puppets’). The DIRTY ROTTEN IMBECILES never reached mainstream fame, but their influence on the mainstream just below the surface has been immense.
FROM REVIEWS:
DIRTY ROTTEN LP / VIOLENT PACIFICATION: The ultimate hardcore record. 26 songs in 22 minutes, and it would have been even shorter if it weren’t for that darned three-minute “Violent Pacification” epic. In fact, the songs are every bit as vicious and fierce as you’d expect from taking a gander at the cover portrait of a skeleton in army gear busting into a house…
DEALING WITH IT: This one has 25 songs in 34 minutes. Still hardcore; the difference is that this one isn’t recorded nearly as viciously and cymbal-crash-heavy as the debut, so it doesn’t really kick your ass from the military end; it’s more of a guitar-chord-driven thing this time. The melodies are easier to find (even though they’re still extremely speedy), and thus probably easier to enjoy the first time you hear them. Classics include “I’d Rather Be Sleeping,” “Mad Man” (about and featuring Kurt’s asshole father), re-recordings of the debut’s classics “Yes Ma’am,” “I Don’t Need Society,” “Couch Slouch,” and “Reaganomics”
CROSSOVER: Speed metal. Man, did they lose a ton of fans with this one. Only 12 songs in 36 minutes???? Yes. They’re a heavy metal band now. But, aside from the lengths of the songs, very little has changed. The production is about a million times better than on the last two, the guitar and drums are louder and meaner…
FULL SPEED AHEAD: Yes!!!!!! They’re back!!!!! And heavier than a big ol’ pile o’ dirt!!!!! They’ve got their guitars tuned down to a low C, so even the slow songs completely pound your head into the dirt!!! Mean, loud, tight, fast – and by far the heaviest metal they’ve ever done.
