Earth Crisis
The Oath That Keeps Me Free (Victory)
by Doug Sery
I’ve hated live albums ever since my ears were raped by Frampton Comes Alive!, so when I was asked to review Earth Crisis‘ The Oath That Keeps Me Free, I agreed to do so with extreme trepidation. The opening introduction from lead singer and frontman Karl Buechner didn’t ease those tensions. It turns out that the concert was a benefit for lead guitarist Kris Weichmann’s father, who, according to Buechner, while he may “not necessarily be a fan of our music” (not too surprising, unless he was a major Black Sabbath fan in the ’70s), is down with a lot of “stuff that we’re about.” Tom Waits, eat your heart out.
However, in homage to that generational gap, EC immediately cut loose with a blistering rendition of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love.” This track alone makes this CD worth buying. Taking an already intense song (well, at least relative to the ’60s), Buechner makes it sound like the sunshine of your love is to be found in the killing fields of Cambodia. There’s even an honest-to-god guitar solo dual between Weichmann and Scott Crouse. Hoo-wee! If this is what retro is all about, paint me paisley and point me to the nearest love-in!
The bliss-out can’t last forever though, and pretty soon Earth Crisis is back on the moral highground they’re so famous for. If you didn’t know already (and you should), Karl, Kris, Scott, Dennis Derrick (drums), and Ian Edwards (bass) are the current poster boys for straight-edge. With two seven-inches and two CDs to their credit, Earth Crisis has been hammering (and I do mean hammering) out the anti-drinking, anti-smoking, anti-drugs, and anti-animal products theme since the early ’90s. They make Minor Threat sound like The Mentors. And, unlike Minor Threat (but so like the majority of NYHC bands), they have no sense of humor what… so… ever (neither do their fans, with one comedian in the audience yelling out “play some Skynyrd!” Original.). This, and their rather heavy-metal approach, can prove to be a bit tedious after awhile. With lyrics like “Man has made the neo-god/Unholy falseness infests/The final days are upon us,” Earth Crisis is skirting dangerously close to territory already inhabited by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I suppose this is fine for some people, but if I wanted heavy metal, I’d go see a GWAR concert.
