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Motokops2000
"....Only Pieces Remain"
-- by Arrowhead on Saturday, May 31, 2003

1 - Faded
2 - Placenta
3 - Lost is my Way
4 - Deconstruction
5 - Not My God
6 - Forever Silenced
7 - Blind I
8 - Alone to Suffer
9 - Tiny Avengers
10- The One I Hate
11- Legs Like Wings

Recently, a copy of "...Only Pieces Remain", the new Motokops2000 outing, Came across my desk. Actually, who am I kidding? It's a well proven fact that anything that came within a few feet of this desk would immediately be lost amidst the obscene clutter. The disc was actually handed to me by Dave, the guitarist/programmer/evil genius who is one half of this 2 man band.

Motokops2000 have been sitting on this disk for over a year, but after getting a taste of thier unique style and instrumentation on the local live circuit, I've been dying to hear the recording. Motokops2000 consist of David Novin on guitar, Randy Carter on vocals, and various programmed bass and drum parts put together with bludgeoning realism by Dave.

Two things struck me as I first stuck this disc into the cd player in my car. Firstly, The opening track "faded" sounds profoundly big and beefy. Think of Rammstein, without the bad accent and homosexual undertones. The second thing that struck me was that somewhere, without noticing, my spedometer had crept up to 60 mph on some backroad in Brockton.

Upon further listening, you get to know Motokops pretty well. They're kinda like a one trick pony. A one trick pony who can do Judo. They play metal. It's an almost industrial, stomping screaming shenanagin of the first order. These guys have created mosh pits with just the two of them, onstage, playing it's raining men.

Yes.
And the Spice Girls.
Yes, I said mosh pits.

Dave's riffing is monstrous, like ministry meets exodus. The occasional solo's (played by Derrik Albertelli, second guitarist) are tight, well played, and fit the songs well. The drums are incredibly well played, with the tinyest fluctuations of a real drummer mimiced with total accuracy. If they found someone with the gear and cardiovascular skills to replicate these songs, you'd never notice the difference. My one complaint would be the snare. It's slightly wet, gated to fuckland sound is really grating after a bit. However, it does add to the bands overall groove of a steel jawed bear trap snapping your little sisters leg in two.

Randy's lyrics are interesting, and his screaming style still allows you able to understand about 75% of what he's saying. My christ, every time I hear him screaming on this recording, all I can think of is Forbidden's "Forbidden Evil" album. He also peppers the album with occasional spoken word or growling, but sticks to an aggressive distorted screaming most of the time.

The songs are tight. They're all medium fast paced thrash tunes, but filled to the brim with great lyrics, stomping beats, great guitar work and plenty of potential for speeding tickets.

The payoff on this album comes in the form of "Tiny Avengers", A foolish anthem sung with such pride and conviction that shows how serious this band is about not taking themselves too seriously. Other good spots include the melodic parts in "Blind I", the intro to "lost Is My Way" - a riff almost the same as "Be Aggressive" by Faith No More, which immediately launches into a great stomping Nascar beat, and the cover of "Legs Like Wings" by Austen's Dead which closes out this album.

Ratings: 3 out of 5
GTA3 background music (bonus rating): 5 out of 5