When Worlds Collide (Metal Blade Records)

The late Cory Smoot A.K.A. Flattus Maximus recently passed away while on tour with GWAR in late 2011. But before he passed away, he recorded an album that was originally titled Religion Is Fiction. The album was going to have notable singers from the Richmond, VA metal scene doing vocals on different songs, but due to scheduling conflicts, he ended up recording all vocals himself and renaming it When Worlds Collide.

Right away, you can hear the awesome riff fest this album will offer in the initial shredding on “The Blood Red.” It’s a straight up heavy metal track, with slight elements of groove thrown in. The initial verse sections are reminiscent of late 90’s/early 2000’s heavy metal (no I’m not talking about nu-metal) in terms of how the music is written. One thing that makes this track stand most of the others is the awesome quality and originality of the riffs provided.

Sure to become a favorite among the metal community, “Religion Is Fiction” is a groove metal masterpiece. While it’s really short at only two and a half minutes, the guitar riff that’s played throughout the song is another excellent example of Cory’s uniqueness with his song writing. Another notable aspect is that he basically keeps the same riff throughout the song, but implements different patterns to make it a completely badass track.

If there’s one song that has the closest relation to GWAR, it would definitely be “Mandatory Purgatory.” From the song title alone one can get the correlation, but after hearing the semi-thrash metal song and the lyrics to the song, you can immediately see it. Dave Brockie lends some vocals on this track as well, which helps explain the similarities even more.

Overall, after listening to this awesome album, it stands as the perfect swansong for Cory Smoot.

RIP Cory, thanks for the excellent memories.

GRADE: A

By: Ridge “Deadite” Briel