BLACK JESUS, Black Jesus Saves (2010, demo)

The skull:
Just like Columbus Day – which it is on the day I write this – we all pretty much know Jesus wasn’t white, but we still think of him as a white dude anyway. Same thing with Columbus…we all know the story, but we’ll take the day off. Well, “we” as in bankers and postal workers — the rest of us are Viking-lovers patiently awaiting our holiday. I digress. The idea of a black Jesus, or a dark-skinned Jesus, is not only historically appropriate, but it makes for some great Blaxploitation b-movie imagery, don’t it? And this skull…this skull is fly. It’s not the actual skull of (black) Jesus, but he’s right on nonetheless. He foxy. Betchya sweet ass. He’s tight, together and mean. Chicks…chumps…he uses ‘em all. Indeed, we believe this may be the skull of Willie Dynamite, but we’ll get back to you. Our forensics expert need a little more time on that.

The music:
These eight songs and nearly nineteen minutes of crudely recorded noise sounds like a rawer, more savage Diskord without the surreal, hallucinatory quality. With its militantly basics-only approach, it also has a Nunslaughter vibe. Every song rips ass, short and sweet, and if you didn’t think a band was out there that combined Diskord and Nunslaughter, well, think again. Add some Autopsy and Repulsion-ish flavors, and you pretty much get where this is going. There’s even a hint of ingenuity in a song like “The Devouring” with its odd dissonant guitar melodies and the tractors-tumbling-down-a-hill calamity of the whole thing. At 3:39, it’s the epic of the demo. I enjoyed this probably more than I should have.
— Friar Wagner