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by Dan Grote
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It’s been two years since we took you into the pit but with the release of Speedealer’s new album “Second Sight” from Palm Pictures it was the perfect time to bring back the “In The Pit” series.  One of antiMUSIC’s newest writers, Dan Grote, will take you into the world of Speedealer’s new album (produced by Jason Newsted).  So here is your first dose of the newly returned “In The Pit” and Speedealer's latest musical powerhouse! 

Speedealer - Second Sight
Label: Palm Pictures
Produced by Jason Newsted
Rating: 
 

Tracks: Leave Me Alone  Second Sight  All The Things You'll Never Be  The Thin Air  Days Of Red  As Ever  Kill Myself Tonight  Blinded  Fractured  Slowly, Burning...Alive  Infinitesimal  Machinations

Listen to samples and Purchase this CD online Visit the official Speedealer website

From the ProTools-ridden studio of Jason Newsted comes Speedealer: anachronism or breath of fresh air? The former Metallica bassist’s protégés assault the ears with an album full of much missed speed metal that hearkens back to the days when bands like Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, and Faith No More were the kings of the metal scene, shredding, thrashing, and pounding all the way.

According to the band’s official website, www.speedealeronline.com, Speedealer formed in 1994 and released several albums and EP’s through different independent labels. Their early discography  includes an album called REOSpeedealer (the name for which has since been self-titled for obvious legal reasons). An A&R man at the band’s current label, Palm Records, sent Newsted ‘dealer’s demos after their 2000 release Here Comes Death. Newsted is quoted as saying of the band, “Speedealer is the first heavy band worthy of my 110 percent commitment since Metallica.” 

Frontman Jeff Hirshberg is painted as being the band’s driving force, given a bio wherein he makes grandiose statements about his views on music: “One should listen to music with one's full attention and that means no external stimuli. Period. I feel that is the only way music in general will progress from its current state of stagnation and nostalgia. Rise and demand quality...or suffer the woefully out-of-tune fate set before us all.”

The band’s biggest asset, however, is drummer Harden Harrison. Harrison lays down the rapid bass and snare beats that force the rest of the band to step up their already impressive game. If or when  Speedealer ever break up, Harrison will have a great career as a replacement touring drummer; the Joey Waronker of metal, so to speak. Harrison’s beats lay down the frame for pieces like “Infinitesimal” and “Blinded.”

Like any good metal album, the first track, “Leave Me Alone,” begins with both thrashing and deep-throated screaming. So far so good, everybody’s doing their job. However, the band has yet to display its true talents. Then comes the title track, “Second Sight,” which opens with a burst of the speed that will be evidenced as their stock-in-trade. It isn’t until the third track, “All the Things You’ll Never Be,” that the band starts kicking ass left and right, Hirshberg brings both the rapid thrash and the attention-grabbing lyrics for one of the album’s most potent songs. Hirshberg shares riffing duties with fellow axeman Eric Schmidt.

Things begin to decrescendo over the next few tracks until “Kill Myself Tonight,” the album’s other heavy-hitter, completely different from “All the Things.” “Kill Myself” carries more of a punk-metal influence, and, in truth, surpasses Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” as one of the best party death metal anthems of all time.

The varied tempo of the album as a whole leaves you to appreciate the faster tracks, as songs like “Leave Me Alone” and “Days of Red,” if they are trying to be  singles, do not carry the power that the fast tracks have. Some tracks attempt a combination of tempos. “Infinitesimal,” an instrumental track, teases the listener by starting out with a slow beat and gradually erupting into something beautiful.

VERDICT: While Second Sight provides a mix of strong and mediocre tracks, metal fans should have no problem bearing through the rough patches to get to the good stuff. Speedealer at its best is a band that’s not afraid to get its licks in. There are no signs of overproduction, and if there is any polish, it’s used sparingly at best. Newsted has done just enough producing to allow his band to fly free. Although ironically, for a bassist’s production, there isn’t much bass guitar on the album, not that it would be appropriate for the material. Regardless, Second Sight is one of the most refreshing metal albums to come around in years. Granted, Speedealer’s speed metal may seem like a retro throwback to the late 80’s/early 90’s, but it beats the wave of  retro-post-punk-art-noise-garage rock the record companies are shoveling in our faces just because the  Strokes broke.
 

Footnotes: The band has since replaced album bassist Rodney Skelton with Rich Mullins. They are currently touring in support of the new album and will join Fu Manchu on the road later in the summer.