Five or Six years ago, I remember hearing about Dave Lombardo starting a new band, and really looking forward to hearing it. The same guy who blasted his way through a decade of aggression (pun intended) with the almighty Slayer. I thought to myself ""This is going to be great!"" Then I actually heard his new band, Grip Inc.‘s first release The Power Of Inner Strength. To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement. The drumming was lackluster, the guitaring was average, the aggression was low and the vocals were terrible. Skip forward to 1997 and the band released Nemesis, which had lackluster drumming, average guitar playing, low aggression and bad vocals. Now in 1999, the band has released their latest effort entitled Solidify, have they made any progress? Yes and no. The band have a few tracks which are not too bad like "Lockdown", "Foresight" and "Vindicate", but nothing that would make me want to nod my head to the rhythm, let alone jump out of my chair and go nuts. The band sticks with the same rhythm through every single song and, unfortunately for them, the rhythm they choose to follow is horrible and it’s the same rhythm they used on all of their other albums. Boring! Waldemar Sorychta is the one writing the music for the album, and I think it’s safe to say, that after three of the most annoying and boring albums written this decade, that he should consider chopping his fingers off. I’m not even joking here. The music is really quite pathetic. If that doesn’t make things bad enough, their singer has the worst voice and vocal style in the history of metal. The guy looks and sounds like Jacko, you remember Jacko, don’t you? The big Australian rugby player who grabbed instant fame in the mid-80s appearing in Foster’s beer commercials right around the time Crocodile Dundee hit mainstream America. Jetto from the failed TV series The Highwayman? Yea… you know the guy. Well, Grip Inc.‘s singer Gus Chambers reminds me of that guy. Every time I hear Gus’ voice I get the urge to beat him senseless with a boomerang and shove a rabid koala down his pants. Even the drumming for Grip Inc. is average, I think it’s safe to say Mr. Lombardo is the most overrated drummer in the scene. He couldn’t double kick if his life depended on it, it’s the reason why he’s no longer in Slayer, and it’s also the reason why he’s stuck having to play in a talentless bands like Grip Inc. I bet Kerry, Jeff and Tom laughed when they first heard Power Of Inner Strength, and in 1999, their former bandmate hasn’t given them a reason to stop.

Review byTeufel