Razor “Shotgun Justice” CD

"Shotgun Justice" was the sixth full-length from prolific, longstanding, and I assume legendary (Yeah?) Canadian thrashers Razor, originally released in 1990 on Fringe Records. It was their second to last record (they first called it quits in 1992, about a year after the release of "Open Hostility"), and in my opinion also their best. They did reform in 1997 and release a new full-length, "Decibels", however, they haven't put out anything since—though they did reform again in 2005, granted none of their old websites have been updated since late that year—so... who knows what's going on with 'em now!?

Anyway, in the interest of complete honesty, I had barely heard any Razor material prior to this week. I had sampled tracks here and there over the years, and they had always been one of those bands that I had wanted (and fully intended) to check out, but for whatever reason I never got around to it. Perhaps it's because their CD's are kind of a pain in the ass to find for reasonable prices, I don't know. But somehow or another (I have absolutely no idea how) I stumbled upon this video last week:

And, I mean... come on! It took me all of 10 fucking seconds to assure myself that it was mandatory that I finally check out some Razor albums immediately. That's gotta be one of the greatest fucking videos in the history of all living things, (probably) unintentional comedy gold or not. I could talk about the video for hours on its own. But let's face it, the fucking song rips, too.

So, "Shotgun Justice" was obviously my first choice. And yes, I'm kicking myself over the fact that Razor formed in fucking 1984 and it somehow took me 24 god damn years to fully experience their absolute brilliance. Here we have a whopping 14 tracks in just 39 minutes and 19 seconds, jam packed with generally fast (and, okay, with crunchy midpaced breaks aplenty) early-90's thrash with perfectly blunt song titles such as "Violence Condoned", "Brass Knuckles", and "Cranial Stomp", to name but a few. The vocals are 100% badass, too. I'm sure there's a legion of diehard Razor fans out there who would have my head for this since "Shotgun Justice" was the band's debut album with Bob Reid on vocals, but... I definitely prefer his Exodus-esque bitterness/subtle sarcasm to the band's former frontman, Stace "Sheepdog" McLaren (guitarist Dave Carlo has been their only consistent member throughout their history). What can I say?

And let's not forget the utterly fucking impeccable cover art (don't deny it)—one of Razor's many contributions to the archives of incredible metal album covers—or the classic fucking lyrics, man!

Pressure is building inside. Strengthening desire to kill. Tension rips through my veins. Increasing hardcore hatred, my will. Angered. I reach in my coat. My fingers find my weapon of brass. Planting my fist in your face. A violence fix, I'm kicking your ass. Punch out your lights. Fist fighting every night. Fractured your face. Left you a total disgrace...

Razor "Shotgun Justice"
Razor "Brass Knuckles"
Razor "Stabbed in the Back"

I honestly can't find this damn CD for sale anywhere (sans the one used copy on Amazon.com for fucking $120, which is just plain stupid), nor are the songs on iTunes or whatever. But, if you want to enjoy some undeniably raging thrash metal from a band that seems to have gotten somewhat of a raw deal over the last few decades, well, you can find the tracks out there. I don't usually support that kind of thing, but... what else can you do, you know?