Hurrr durr indeed, but while Napalm Death have simply rearranged the same set of core influences across three decades, and are capable of producing fantastic albums and mediocre ones both - all carefully stitched together by the same twine - Brutal Truth have never been so predictable. The vastly disparate set of backgrounds and influences - vocalist Kevin Sharp's 7" cough syrup punk rock, bassist Dan Lilker's horns-aloft mullet metal, drummer Rich Hoak's nutso free jazz and guitarist Erik Burke's octopus mathcore - resulting in a far more unpredictable and nomadic canon. The point is that what we'd accept from Napalm Death (who've produced a fair bit of filler over the years, along with some solid gold), we wouldn't accept from Brutal Truth, like a precocious A student whose grades suddenly slip and need a good talking to.
Why this is relevant is that 'End Time' sounds, at its most basic, like 'Need To Control', and any other points of reference - Swans or Boredoms for example - all link back to 'Need To Control' either by sounding like it or influencing it. Opening track 'Malice' even has a similar brand of same bell-tolling, feedback-laden disease as 'Collapse', albeit passed through the frantic immediacy filter of their post-'Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom' output (ignoring how oddly reminiscent '.58 Caliber' is to a Killswitch Engage intro because there's absolutely no way they found themselves influenced by that), with an impenetrable wall of sonic whitewash around the mid-section that recalls 'Kill Trend Suicide'.
Brutal Truth albums though, have always referenced other Brutal Truth albums. Their canon may be unpredictable, but like a Zeppelin in a thunderstorm they remain tethered to the landing platform. Said Zeppelin may be tortured by lightning tempos and hailstorm drumming, buffeted like a dead dog on an escalator by the whimsy of the elements, but its arc of chaos is checked by the steel cables that represent this pure, Platonic force of just what it is that Brutal Truth are. Order amid chaos, familiarity and unfamiliarity, spittle flecked statements of intent and hair-tearing, flesh rending sludge dirges - play loud and give up trying to understand.
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