If there's any one reason to check out Intensity, it should be this: Rodrigo Alfaro. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then let me tell you this: Rodrigo is the drummer/singer/principal songwriter for the Satanic Surfers. The Surfers have completely amazed me with their ability to put out 4 distinct sounding albums...and all 4 are very good. Rodrigo sings (read: screams) for Intensity, and has done much the same thing.

Intensity started with their debut Bought and Sold, which sounded like an edgier version of the Surfers. However, as all the anger and intensity (no pun intended) seems to be draining from the Surfers, Intensity just keeps getting more pissed off, from Wash Off The Lies to finally, The Ruins of Our Future.

Those with enough punk points to own Bought and Sold should not expect anything close to that sound. Ruins is quick and dirty hardcore. In fact, only one song of 16 on the CD tops 2 minutes.

The album kicks off with "Ruins", which starts slowly with a creepy riff, before throwing you kicking and screaming (and head-banging) into a fiery acoustic inferno (I've been waiting for a while to use that term...). This lasts a grand total of one minute. You're then hurled into the second song, "Stress, Arbete, Angest", (the first of 4 songs sung entirely in Swedish) and you don't come up for a breath until...

...22 minutes later, when you realized you didn't even stop to read the liner notes, or look at the cool artwork on the front and back cover. Why? Because if you're at all like me, you've been too busy trying to decide whether you love or hate this CD. I still haven't decided. Some days, I wonder "is this what my taste in music has evolved in to? what am I listening to?", but most of the time, I'm too busy screaming and punching at the air to care.

Perhaps the one lasting impression your left with after your first spin through the disc is the amazing vocal performance put on by Rodrigo. Fans of the Satanic Surfers already know about the great aggressive-melodic voice he has, but not so many people knew he could scream with the best of them (regardless of the language). By the end of the week, you'll be screaming "AS FIELDS LIE FALLOW...." in your sleep.

If you're still not convinced, download the song "Ruins" (which I have helpfully linked to the Bad Taste site). If you dig this song, you'll like the album. But you'll probably have to buy the CD (good luck finding this online, suckers).

Ruins