The comeback Ep from Amebix is also available on vinyl, packaged with a big embroidered patch and a download card that accesses an MP3 copy of the recording as well as a bonus live version of the song "Progress?" that's only available here.

While we're waiting for the mucho-anticipated new album from the reformed Amebix, the highly influential UK crust-metal trio has released this Ep of older tracks that have been re-recorded by the band's new lineup that includes new drummer Roy Mayorga, who in the past has sat behind the kit for bands ranging from NYC crust punkers Nausea, nu-metallers Soulfly, the Slipknot spin-off Stone Sour, and Hare Krisha rockers Shelter. More unlikely as an Amebix reunion might have seemed when this was first announced a while back, the band sounds absolutely intense revisiting these classic jams, with a heavier and more metallic attack and a much thicker recording than they had on their original albums from the 1980's. Their original sound, which was essentially a combination of Killing Joke's apocalyptic post-punk and the gnarled thrash of Motorhead, went on to be one of the most influential sounds to come out of the UK underground, and that end-of-the-world vibe and crushing power hasn't faded a bit to my ears after hearing this.

A distant war-horn heralds the arrival of opener "Arise", one of Amebix's most classic songs, here reconfigured as a crushing, thrash metal take on the original with that massive galloping riff sounding heavier than ever, those deep scorched Lemmy-like vocals still chilling to hear, an icy synthesizer droning in the background through the entire song, a punishing end-time crustmetal anthem that ends amidst the sound of otherworldly industrial chaos. Another Amebix classic, "Winter", begins with air-raid siren keyboards before kicking into that awesome panic-filled bass line joined by rolling tribal drums and The Baron's scorched howl, and it's followed by the chugging stentorian riffage and surging waves of drum battery of "Chain Reaction" (originally off of their Monolith album, and the most obviously re-tooled track here), this new version featuring some awesome, weirdly processed (almost power electronics style) vocals and backing orchestral synths and choral voices that sound fucking massive!