HARDWARES

It seemed so simple at the time: combine the sounds of Trouble and Watchtower for a band that mines the depths of doom, the mind-numbing insanity of technical metal, and the soaring air-raid siren vocals that few humans and a couple animals can reach in a band from some weird state in the US that doesn’t breed a lot of metal bands, put out one underrated album on a UK label… uh, okay, it was never simple. Here, the good folks at Divebomb Records, who have been responsible for some amazingly obscure reissues as of late (CYCLONE TEMPLE, anyone?) have compiled CONFESSOR’s three demos for the first time on one official release, as well as a few odds and sods (including the band’s contribution to Metal Massacre X… Metal Massacre X!). Anyway, the sound quality on the demos is surprisingly good (indeed, those casually familiar with Condemned, the band’s full-length, will be hard-pressed to notice much of a difference), which helps make this an excellent reminder of just how amazing this band was. The album is totally essential, a 9.5 or even a 10; this is slightly less by default but still an incredible reminder of a one-of-a-kind band. Again, our hats off to Divebomb for making this happen, and our hats, always, off to Confessor with horns raised high. Rarely—if ever—has a demos collection been this good.