Fuck the Facts - Backstabber Etiquette

Since I recently reviewed Fuck the Facts‘ Stigmata High-Five here, I thought I’d revisit 2002’s Backstabber Etiquette. If Stigmata is a well-oiled machine, then Backstabber is a crazy, unhinged beast. This is the band’s first album with Mel Mongeon, and while she doesn’t have the control she has now, her vocals here are amazingly feral.

The songs on Backstabber are spastic as hell. “Ballet Addict” has awesomely twitchy riffs, while the chords and dynamics in the middle of “The Burning Side” bring to mind “The Call of Ktulu”! Grindcore is the foundation, but the band takes frequent detours through technical death metal, prog weirdness, and random samples and bits of dialogue. Two fuzzed-out ambient interludes help break up the already broken-up album. Dillinger who?

Ballet Addict
The Burning Side

The production is thin, but that only adds to the music’s manic intensity. This is one of those albums you put on after a hard day when you just want to annihilate everything. Pick this up

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