Carl Begai

As I Lay Dying girlie man Tim Lambesis’ shred-happy Ode To Arnold continues, picking up where Austrian Death Machine’s 2007 debut Total Brutal left off. More of the same out-of-control Suicidal Tendencies mile-a-minute Slipknot skate punk glorifying Mr. Schwarzenegger’s cinematic career, all tied together by grin-worthy between-song banter provided by Josh Robert Thompson. Call it the thrash version of a Conan O’Brien skit gone mad guaranteed to muscle the funnybone of anyone with a background in Arnie, bottom line being you can’t in all fairness carve on something done in the interest of having a bit of fun with the noise. And Lambesis is having a riot. Lead track ‘I Need Your Boots, Your Clothes, And Your Motorcycle’ is one of the ADM’s strongest songs to date, showing off his head for dynamics within the mayhem (he writes, sings and plays almost everything except for the solos), something that has been improved upon since the debut. ‘Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?’ sits at the other end of the spectrum, all piss and vinegar and Machine Head-ness. Fave tracks of the moment, however, are the Pumping Iron tribute ‘It’s Simple, If It Jiggles It’s Fat’, the Mr. Freeze-inspired ‘Allow Me To Break The Ice’, and ‘Conan, What Is Best In Life?’, which closes the first disc with the finesse of a truck kissing a brick wall.
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