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What Seizure Crypt offer with their album You've Been Had! is a wonderful collection of refreshing songs, genre debatable, though ranging from generic speed metal to a sick and twisted hardcore-punk-thrash chimera. They even seem to have Gilbert Gottfried on vocals.
The overall quality of the album is not exactly fantastic, but it is a worlds apart from so-bad-that-you-cannot-hear-what-is-going-on-and-cannot-enjoy-the-music.
The album opens with Supernatural Intro. While it may be far from supernatural, it is a catchy piece of artwork, hooking you and reeling you in.
The next song, Bigger Than Politics, isn't actually much longer than the intro. Apart from the duration of the song - which hardly accounts for much, anyway - it is quite the change from the opening of the album. The harmony is much more cheerful and 'upbeat' (in the non-anacrusis sense of the word). One problem that persists throughout the album, however, is the volume of the vocals, which could have done with being a little bit louder in order to appreciate fully their quality.
The next few songs are all over the place: the beat and tempo of Spastic Summer seem to scream, 'Headbang to me!'; listening to One Way is like watching the band's potential lie dormant; then after that incredibly rapid fluctuation of quality, Don't Blink is undoubtedly unforgettable and almost earth-shattering in its musical diversity - maybe even one of the best tracks on the album.
After that the songs are fairly average for a few minutes, but by no means bad, make no mistakes. Seizure Crypt always play well, even at their worst. When the compositional quality fails, the band makes up for it with its performance.
However, towards the end of the album ('towards the end' is difficult to pinpoint as the album is so fast-paced and short, but let's say around Chompin' At The Bit), the songs pick up a bit again. The percussion in Six Loose Ends is particularly fabulous, swimming against the gut-wrenching tide of overused drum patterns.
The last song on the album, Not For Everyone, is probably one of the best songs on the album, though far from the most original. It is hard-hitting and memorable though, and quite frankly, that is probably the best way to end an album.
Overall, not bad, and even recommendable. You've Been Had! is an album that almost dares you not to enjoy it. To be honest, it is unlikely to change the world or get to Number 1 (and it probably would not want to anyway), but it is a good album to listen to, which is the important thing.
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