AUSTRIAN DEATH MACHINE – “Double Brutal”

Arnold unites heavy music and stupid laughter in one

Metal music is brutal, serious, heavy with messages that it unloads on the listener, black metallers never smile and so on. Only that there are bands like Austrian Death Machine that prove total comedy sure can coexist with brutal riffs.

A year after “Total Brutal” the one man orchestra from As I Lay Dying Tim Lambesis releases the second album of his solo tribute-project towards the current Governor of California. And this time around part of the Arnold impersonations are done by Josh Robert Thompson, who has been doing pretty much the same for the Howard Stern Show. Basically – the whole project’s level has gone a notch up as more famous show biz people get involved.

The album opens up with a skit where two Arnolds talk on the phone. The first punch is “I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, And Your Motorcycle”, based on the classic line from Terminator 2. Quite thrashy metalcore with a memorable chorus and a killer solo. “Come On Cohaagen, Give Deez People Ehyar” is one of the CD’s more melodic songs while at other places it bursts out in a more death metal direction “Come On, Do It, Do It, Come On, Come On, Kill Me, Do It Now” and “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?”. And there are also many skits and jokes in the album as well, but it would be lame to tell them now. They sure are going to make you laugh, especially if you know and like the movies themselves.

The album has a second part that opens up with the Terminator 2 theme and continues from covers of classic bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Agnostic Front and Misfits. The covers are almost identical to the originals (with downtuned guitars and screaming vocals of course), but are also put in the context of Schwarzenegger movies. In “Gotta Go” for example our friend sings about how they really must go because Skynet is going to kill everyone any moment now.

To put it shortly – the album is hilarious. If you like the movies and listen to such music, the few listens that will make you roll on the floor laughing are guaranteed. The question how much of a replay value this CD has still stands, though. But I surely doubt that Tim Lambesis intended to forge an eternal metal classic.

Verdict: 5.25 / 6