ANGKOR WAT — When Obscenity Becomes the Norm... Awake! (review)

ANGKOR WAT — When Obscenity Becomes the Norm... Awake! album cover Album · 1989 · Crossover Thrash Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"When Obscenity Becomes the Norm... Awake!" is the debut full-length studio album by US crossover thrash metal act Angkor Wat. The album was released through the Metal Blade Records subsidiary label Death Records in April 1989. Angkor Wat formed in 1986 and was originally a hardcore punk act playing cover tunes, but slowly moved towards a crossover thrash metal sound before the release of "When Obscenity Becomes the Norm... Awake!".

And the music on the album indeed is a marriage between hardcore punk and thrash metal. Angkor Wat are not terribly unique sounding, but deliver their aggressive and predominantly fast-paced tracks with conviction. David Brinkman is a raw and aggressive sounding frontman, but his vocal style is slightly one-dimensional and the intensity of his delivery varies a bit from track to track. Sometimes he sounds really dedicated to the project and other times he sounds a bit tired.

While Angkor Wat is a Corpus Christi, Texas based act it´s actually the early output by artists like Lawnmower Deth and Cerebral Fix (both British acts) that I´m mostly reminded of. But when Angkor Wat are in hardcore punk mode more than thrash mode it´s Dead Kennedys I hear references to. Angkor Wat are a relatively well playing band so they pull off both styles with conviction.

"When Obscenity Becomes the Norm... Awake!" is not the most well produced album out there and that´s a minor issue, but if I have to mention an issue that´s a bit of a show stopper it´s that the material aren´t that memorable. One song is followed unnoticed by the next and even though there are often a stylistic change happening, it´s not like you´ll be able to remember the tracks anyway. It´s still somewhat a solid release by Angkor Wat though and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

It Gets Worse Sludge Metal
KULK
Buy this album from MMA partners
Černé Srdce Atmospheric Sludge Metal
ARCHETYP
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anomalia Metalcore
AGREMORTA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ingräte Metalcore
INGRÄTE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Fossil Gardens Black Metal
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 16 hours ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed