Whenever most metal fans think of the biggest acts in the realm of thrash, most will immediately go to the likes of Testament, Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. Of course, they are hardly the only major names in the thrash community. Exodus has, for years, maintained its place among the thrash elite, too, as have the likes of Death Angel, Sepultura, Annihilator, Sodom, and even Flotsam & Jetsam. For more than four decades, Flotsam & Jetsam has produced 15 total albums across a handful of labels and through a number of lineup changes while still remaining just as respected as any of its contemporaries in the thrash community. The band’s latest album, I Am The Weapon (its 15th album), fully supports said statement in part through its featured musical arrangements, which will be addressed shortly. The lyrical themes that accompany said content makes for its own engagement alongside the heavy musical arrangements. They will be discussed a little later. The record’s production puts the finishing touch to the presentation, completing the whole and making the album a fully engaging and entertaining new offering from the veteran metal act that every metal fan should hear at least once if not more.
I Am The Weapon, the latest album from Flotsam & Jetsam, is an impressive new offering from the veteran thrash metal outfit that is just as impressive a jumping on point for new fans as it is a new offering for the band’s established audiences. The record’s appeal comes in part through its featured musical arrangements. From the beginning to the end of the 11-song record, metal and thrash fans get a steady diet of vintage thrash. Right from the album’s outset, ‘A New Kind of Hero,’ audiences get subtle touches of Megadeth, Exodus, and even Metallica all in one. That is evident in the contrast of the melodic choruses and the much heavier choruses and bridge. The whole makes for a strong start for the album and a welcome musical trip back in time. ‘Primal’ meanwhile hints more at vintage Anthrax in its sound and stylistic approach, to a point. This even as the arrangement maintains its own identity separate from anything that Anthrax has ever crafted. As the album progresses, audiences even geta touch of ‘Death Angel’-esque sound in ‘Head of the Snake.’ This changeup keeps things just as engaging as anything else on the album, which includes plenty more familiar thrash sounds and styles. Again, throughout the course of the album, those familiar sounds and styles successfully ensure each song has its own unique identity separate from the works to which it can be compared to from Flotsam & Jetsam’s counterparts. The whole is a presentation that is rock solid (no pun intended) and in turn forms a solid base for I Am The Weapon.
Resting easily on that foundation and even strengthening it is the lyrical material that accompanies said content. Case in point is the obvious social commentary contained within the early entry, ‘Burned My Bridges.’ In reading through the song’s lyrics, the message in question is familiar territory for any rock fan. It addresses the ever growing divisions in the country while also calling for a reunification of sorts. This is made clear as front man Eric Knutson sings, “You can only sense the right/From what you have been told/Back and forth of who is wrong is getting oh so old/Hear the screams of passion/From the radical few/The rusty wheel that gets the grease/is not the one you lose/The louder I become/The more attention paid/The deeper I dig/The steadier the way.” The message is clear. Humans are conditioned, told to think a certain way for such a long time, going all the way back to childhood, so they only know what they know, and this leads to an endless battle of who is wrong. People think as a result that whoever is louder gets more attention and is right. This applies on both sides. The message is clear and continues in the song’s second verse, which finds Knutson singing further, “Rising as the darkness descends/I never know/Never feel just what lies ahead/Riding into the storm/I burned my bridges everywhere But now I have no way home.” In other words, what we do because of that nonstop fighting has left us stuck with no way to go back to how it used to be. He further adds, “A new divide/Everybody has a ride/A million destinations all at the same time/A list of basic needs/should be higher on the list/That things that we all need to breathe, and eat, and live.” He is right. There are things so much more important in life than fighting each other over who is right because when nobody is right when everybody is wrong. Those basic needs really should be higher up. And if we united instead of dividing ourselves, those lists of needs would take so much more importance and maybe just maybe things would be at least somewhat better in this world.
On a completely different but equally familia note, the lyrical material featured in I Am The Weapon also addresses addiction. The commentary in question comes in the album’s penultimate entry, ‘Running Through The Fire.’ The discussion is made with full clarity as Knutson sings, “I can’t restrain you/From running through the fire/I can’t control you/I can’t stop you/The pain of addiction/The pain of loss/The fire consumed your soul/The curse that runs right through your veins/And drags you down to sheol/Never see the other side/Never find the truth/Lost yourself in the dust/But you still can’t find the pain you hide/It’s a cancer you birth from lust/Running through the fire/Will you take that poison pill/Run through the fire/Brings about a terror curse that kills/Running through the fire/The rage you spill on yourself/Run through the fire/A certificate of evil from your shelf/The pain of wrath/The pain of greed/Destruction is in the wake/You’re seeping down into the dirt/Your spirit begins to break/It controls your thoughts/Controls your mind/Can’t find your way out/But only you hold the key/Your ritual so devout.” In other words, that addiction is so powerful. It does so much harm, but the person battling it holds the key to defeating it. This is true. Only the one fighting it can defeat addiction. This musing on addiction and its power is, again, familiar territory in the rock realm, and it is just as engaging here as it is from so many other acts out there. It is just one more example of the importance of the lyrical themes featured in I Am The Weapon.
Yet one more example of the importance of the album’s lyrical content comes in the album’s midpoint, ‘Beneath The Shadows.’ This song’s theme is its own unique commentary. It comes across as centering on how people see only what they want of others. This as Knutson sings, “What do you see when you look at me/Perception tells you who I am/The fading interest of what I do/No matter how hard I work for you/My heart is passed by so easily/My abilities ignored/And even when you see the pain inside of me/The stories you have heard will haunt your dreams/Beneath the shadows of my past/The stories told times of old/Beneath the shadows of my fate/Couldn’t say if it was jealousy or hate/But you can’t see me beneath the shadows/You can’t see me behind the shade/You can’t see me beneath the shadows/You can’t see me begin to fade.” Later in the song, the subject comes back around, saying he does not care about any of that, but that “I just keep on pushing/To the beat of what I do/Happy with my contribution/As I know you feel it too.” In other words, this person does not care what that other person or even those people think. He keeps pushing, doing his thing. This is a reminder to listeners to not let others’ view of them get them down. It is a reminder that what one thinks of one’s self is all that matters. This even if a person feels invisible to another person or to other people. This is a powerful and welcome message, and an interesting way to deliver said message, too. It is just one more key example of the importance of the album’s overall lyrical material. When it and the other songs examined here are considered alongside the rest of the lyrical material that fills out the album, the whole makes clear that the album’s lyrical themes are just as important as its musical arrangements to its overall presentation.
While the collective content featured throughout I Am The Weapon is unquestionably important to the album’s presentation, it still is not all that is important to note. The production that went into the album puts the finishing touch to the whole. Thanks to the attention that went into balancing the vocals and the instrumentations both against one another and alongside one another, the result is a balance that finds each musician expertly complimenting his fellow performers in each work. As a result thereof, listeners get a positive aesthetic that does just as much to ensure continued engagement and entertainment from beginning to end. To that end, the album’s production puts the finishing touch to its presentation and gives listeners that much more reason to take in the record. When they do, listeners will agree that the album in whole is a strong new addition to this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums.
I Am The Weapon, the latest album from Flotsam & Jetsam, is a strong new offering from the veteran thrash metal outfit. The band’s 15th album, it stands on plenty of positive merits, not the least of which being its musical arrangements. The arrangements are, from one to the next, vintage thrash in the best way possible. At the same time there is some sense of modernization (for lack of better words) that blends with that vintage sound to make the whole presentation thereof so powerful. The lyrical themes that accompany that musical material is of its own interest because it is familiar in its own right and relatively accessible through its delivery, as can be noted here. The album’s production puts the finishing touch to the whole, ensuring a fully positive aesthetic impact. When it is considered alongside the album’s overall content, the whole therein makes I Am The Weapon a complete success and one more of this year’s top new hard rock and metal albums.
I Am The Weapon is available now through AFM Records. More information on the album is available along with all of Flotsam & Jetsam’s latest news at:
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