United

Distorted Vision (Howling Bull)
by Scott Hefflon

United have updated their sound (finally), switching from a thrash/speedmetal band to a roaring, dark nü metal band with strong urges to thrash about. For those who don’t follow Japanese metal, United were the rough equivalent of early Metallica or Anthrax in popularity, and, um, basically any kinda lyrically-juvenile, technically-adept thrash band. As late as ’95 (’96 when licensed by Metal Blade), they were still writing lyrics as lame as “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care… what you say” and had scorching guitar solos and pummeling beats. Much like Grip Inc. (also on Metal Blade), come to think of it. 1999 sees United with a new singer, a hoarse-voiced growler/rapper, and a band with a tendency to throw mid-’90s Sepultura tribal beats around, discordant Machine Head chords (actually, Voivod did ’em first, not to mention better, but I don’t wanna lose “the kids” here), and a quaint way of sounding like Pro-Pain but with a distinct Japanese accent to the grunts. While cute from an damn-are-we-cool American perspective, United isn’t really a necessary addition to your collection unless you wanna show-off how worldly you are. If that’s the case, aside from fucking off, please feel free to purchase this CD.
(PO Box 40129 San Francisco, CA 94140)