Metal Underground.com

Straddling the increasingly thin line between hardcore punk and metal, Bring The Knife brings the fury on the band's self-titled debut EP. It's an interesting blend of the comic and the cosmic, lyric-wise, while never sacrificing any energy.

In general, it's the more high-minded approach that offers the most satisfaction. Despite its silly title, "Ftftftftftftftft ....." is actually an interesting indictment of our tendency to live outside the present, with singer Duncan Wilder Johnson lamenting that "We spend our time never in the present/We spend our time killing time." Also quite impressive is "Thank You For Ripping Us Off," a middle finger to corporate fat cats, but also one that indicts the "ego addicts" among the rest of us for buying into their schemes.

Somewhat less impressive would be the silly "Werewolf Fuckdown," which gets a totally unnecessary "clean version" tacked on here.

The most conventionally "metal" of all of the tracks is "Viking Skull Thrust," which features guitarist "Pattie The Gimp"'s best work, including an incendiary solo. "At The End Of Days" features the disc's other great solo.

The EP's biggest misstep — other than the aforementioned "clean version" of "Werewolf Fuckdown" — is the jumpy "I Walk Through Flames Every Hour To Feel Free," which occasionally feels like drummer Eman Pacheco is playing a different song from the rest of the band.

Bring The Knife's hardcore punk-meets metal approach pays off well on this self-titled EP, which will please fans of both genres. It's 25 minutes full of fist-pumpers that are often much smarter than some silly song titles would suggest.