Artist: Houwitser
Country: The Netherlands
Label: Sevared Records
Format: CD
Year: 2010
After Houwitser broke up in 2004, all band members went their separate ways, resulting in such bands as Blastcorps and Hail Of Bullets. Guitarist Michel Alderliefsten, however, felt he had some unfinished business, so in 2007 he and Stan “Plofpik” Blonk brought the band back to life. It took some time before the ideal line-up was found, but after this new Houwitser personnel was firmly tested on stage, a self-financed EP was released and now they are ready for the real deal.
Houwitser left the world with a somewhat disappointing final album, ‘Damage Assessment’ came as a bit of a downer after its strong predecessors. So there was certainly room for doubt about the new material, but the band itself now claims to have found the best line-up ever. The result isby no means bad; ‘Bestial Atrocity’ is a fun album with all the typical Houwitser trademarks. The sound still strikes a balance between old school and the modern American sound. Which is both the band’s strength and weakness: for many people it is either not old school enough or not modern enough. The band lags considerably behind the brutal American violence, and a die-hard fan of, say, Grave will not be enthusiastic about this either. This is also the problem that Sinister, for example, runs into, a band with which Houwitser seems to be inextricably linked, judging by the comparisons that continue to be made.
However, this does not detract from the fact that Houwitser has delivered an album that is easy on the ear, with sufficient variety and Stan’s dry vocals rounding off the whole thing nicely. For those who love facts: on ‘Sledgehammer Redemption’ (previously released as the aforementioned EP), we hear none other than Kam Lee from Massacre. It doesn’t add much value, but it’s a nice change. The same goes for the Rompeprop riff in ‘Lynch The Cancer’, which gives the song a totally different, almost swinging character compared to the rest.
Perhaps not earth-shattering, but definitely a fun record from a likeable band that doesn’t get the credit they deserve; with ‘Bestial Atrocity’, Houwitser leaves virtually all Dutch competition far behind. Perhaps unnecessary to mention, but nowadays Sinister could only dream of such an album.
