Pulling Teeth Vicious Skin

Not much time has elapsed since the dissolution of politico/jokester old-school act Slumlords following two albums, but guitarist Dom Romeo already formed a new band, Pulling Teeth, which effectively fuses both eras of hardcore that influenced the Ontario-born guitarist. Shedding the happy-drunk vibe of Slumlords while retaining their brusque songwriting approach (Vicious Skin whizzes through ten songs in just over fourteen minutes), Pulling Teeth share more in common with the guitarist's first band, nineties' hardcore relics Day of Mourning, as the apocalyptic Holy Terror vibe is dependably brought to life once again. While there is decidedly less death metal riffing and no gutturals (Day of Mourning could easily lay claim to being originators of the "deathcore" label long before the style became a favorite objective of A&R reps), Romeo manages to work in eighties' thrash solos and harmony leads in assorted places throughout the intro-opener "Weeds" and "Never Wrong," "Vicious Skin," "The Kids Are Not Alright," and "Sand and Cells," in much the same vein as Integrity and Ringworm did on albums like Humanity is the Devil, Systems Overload, and Birth is Pain. Integrity frontman Dwid lends his murderous yell to "Weeds," adding further weight to the relevance of Vicious Skin, but it's not the first time he was a guest on Romeo's work. Day of Mourning's final and finest body of work, the 1999 EP Your Future's End, featured Dwid's guest vocals as well as those of Ringworm's Human Furnace. Adding to the incestuous links among the aforementioned, Romeo was Ringworm's second live guitarist when Frank 3 Gun joined Terror a couple of years back. And more recently, Dwid performed a complete Integrity set in Baltimore with Pulling Teeth his backing band; it suffices to say these guys are truer Integrity fans than your average kid wearing one of their posthumous Deathwish-designed shirts. With Slayer one of the main influences of the Holy Terror sound, it comes as no surprise that a riff from their long body of work materializes in the verse of "Prepare for the Worst," accompanied by the appropriate degree of optimism on gravel-throated vocalist Mike Riley's part: "It's my belief that these are the end of days, we've taken things too far. We ignored the warning signs." Another Slayer lick, this time their trademarked two-step, is employed as a tension builder prior to the breakdown in "Bleeding to Death." As metal as Pulling Teeth may be coming across, the songs are short, dirty, and punk enough to merit comparison to bands like The Swarm, Haymaker, and Left For Dead. The creation of Vicious Skin may have been assisted by the old-school revival sweeping the hardcore scene, but it has strong ties to the nineties sound, which should ensure it isn't forgotten by next week. Bottom Line: While a new band to the hardcore scene, Pulling Teeth has some old blood in its ranks, giving Vicious Skin lyrics that often take vengeful neo-political and youth empowerment stances against society and the state of the world. Even with the basic punk beats and short song lengths, there are enough metal riffs and licks reminiscent of the Holy Terror sound to please the aging and bitter twenty-somethings. The album could have used more songs, but with this good an execution of a style long played-out, Vicious Skin carries some respectable weight.