We were way late talking about Brutal Truth‘s 2009 album Evolution Through Revolution — their first in nearly a decade — but when we finally did, we noted that Brutal Truth planned to release a second album of the same songs — except performing them live, in one take.
Well, that second album is now out — strictly limited to 2,000 copies worldwide. It’s called Evolution In One Take: For Grindfreaks Only! Volume 2. If nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment to listen to each song on Evolution followed by the same song on Volume 2 — which is what we did. Our impressions after the jump . . .
The songs on Volume 2 are recognizably the same as on Evolution Through Revolution, but the sound is noticeably different. The instruments on Evolution come across with a much cleaner, crisper sound — and that’s saying something, given the nature of this music. I suppose that should come as no surprise, since we presume each instrument and the vocals were separately tracked and then integrated through the miracles of modern studio engineering.
By comparison, the instruments on Volume 2 come across more as a maelstrom of orchestrated noise. It is, after all, a live performance, even if it was done in a studio instead of on stage.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all. Brutal Truth plays grindcore in one of its purest forms. By its nature, this is honest, brutal, furious, passionate, pummeling music, and hearing it “in the raw” chaotically amplifies all those qualities. Evolution Through Revolution was a real face-ripper. Volume 2 shreds all the way down into the bone.
Wholly apart from the sound of the music, playing Evolution and Volume 2 back-to-back reveals something else that’s quite remarkable: On Volume 2, Brutal Truth played 19 intricate songs at a furious pace without stopping and, as far as I can tell, with incredible precision. I’m not sure you’d ever know that if you didn’t have a meticulously engineered version of the same material with which to compare it. A pretty fucking impressive achievement, and one that deepens my respect for the talent in this band.
If you’re into grind, check out this comparison of a song from Evolution and then the same song from Volume 2:
Brutal Truth – Daydreamer (Evolution)
Brutal Truth – Daydreamer (Volume 2)
P.S. There’s one song on Evolution that’s missing on Volume 2: “Semi-Automatic Carnation”. It’s an experimental, instrumental track of noise that I thought was very cool. Maybe we’ll find out eventually why that one dropped by the wayside. And Volume 2 includes something that you won’t find on Evolution — a super-short grind version of “Louie Louie” at the very end of the band’s performance of “Grind Fidelity.”