Most people outside of the land of Oz are unfamiliar with Damaged apart from the failed collaboration with former Brutal Truth vocalist Kevin Sharp on the group’s last full length effort Purified In Pain. The album just lacked the catchiness, heaviness, shredding, blasting and shrieking of previous efforts. Fortunately, California’s Rotten Records decided re-issue the group’s long out of print 1993 Do Not Spit full length and their 1995 Passive Backseat Demon Engines EP in their original formats on one CD.

Anyone who heard Purified In Pain and is expecting more of the same will be pleasantly surprised to find that everything else Damaged did before Kevin Sharp is completely different and infinitely heavier, faster and more violent.

The album starts out with Do Not Spit which contains 12 tracks of blistering hate-fuelled grindcore and death metal. The album alternates between slower-than-molasses-and-heavier-than-a-tank chugathons and light speed blasters with razor sharp riffs and motor mouthed vocals.

Anyone familiar with the group’s 1997 full length Token Remedies Research will be blown away by the material on Do Not Spit which is better in nearly every way. The mastering on this effort is magnificent with a clear sound, a little rough, but overall a solid sounding effort.

The highlight for any pre-Sharp-era Damaged effort are the insane vocals of Jaymi Ludbrooke who often sounds like he’s saying 8 words at the same time in slightly processed shrieks and bellows, accompanied by the light speed blasting of former Abramelin skinsman Matt Sanders. The song writing on the album is solid, but, as was evident on Purified In Pain, without Jaymi’s vocals and Matt Sanders at 100% behind the kit, Damaged would be just another average band, but these two members at their peaks is an amazing combination.

The five tracks from Passive Backseat Demon Engines have significant production flaws, leaving the material sounding a little muddy, however, early versions of a few tracks from the punishing Token Remedies Research album are available here and are heavier and crippling than a bag of nails to the back of the head. Also included is a surprising cover of Bathory’s "Equimanthorn", a strange song to cover considering the vast differences in musical approaches of both bands, however, strangely enough, it works, and is actually far better than the original… then again I’ve never been a Bathory fan, so others may disagree with that point.

Unfortunately Damaged split shortly after the release of this effort and, considering how poorly Purified In Pain was received, I don’t think anyone really shed a tear. This album is here to remind everyone of how excellent Damaged used to be and is highly recommended to any fan of Token Remedies Research. The album is definitely worth a listen for the Do Not Spit material alone.

Written By: Teufel