Recognize No Authority

Detente | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl
• Label: Restless
• ASIN: B000WB9KXK
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,330 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a Spot on Every Metalhead's Favorites List, October 10, 2010

By 

K. Zehner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Recognize No Authority (Audio CD)

I forget how I was originally turned on to Detente. It may have been through Amazon's recommendations, as a matter of fact. Although this band only produced one album with Dawn Crosby on vocals, "Recognize No Authority" has enough solid songs to make it one of the best metal albums I've heard.

First of all, Dawn Crosby is the best female metal vocalist I've encountered (compared to others such as Anne Boleyn of Hellion, Angela Gossow, Sabina Classen, the stunningly versatile and talented Masha Scream of Arkona, and even the eternal queen of metal, former Warlock singer Doro Pesch - I do not put these in the same category as clear-voiced singers like Cristina Scabbia. Different style altogether). She has a perfect thrash voice: raw, savage, and with a range of pitch and emotion extending from sarcastic whispers to screams that hold an agony of rage.

The production is fairly rough. Like a lot of more intense metal, "Recognize No Authority" should be listened to multiple times to appreciate the subtleties in the layers of sound in each recording: the convulsive interplay between bass and drums, the abrasive guitar, and of course Crosby's voice. Some songs are played at breakneck speed, others with a solid rhythm, and still others are slower to accentuate the tension in the riffs; one song, "Catalepsy," is an instrumental. Most of the lyrics are political and rage against issues that can be summed up by the Terminator's line, "It is in your nature to destroy yourselves." A few are more personal, but all of them are angry (this is one heck of a workout CD, by the way!).

All in all, I would solidly recommend this to anyone who likes eighties thrash or is interested in female metal vocalists. It will make you want to throw your head back and shred your vocal cords while slamming your fist against whatever object is in front of you. Buy now!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the Female Vocalist, this is Just Another Generic Mid 80s Thrash Band, January 30, 2011

By 

Oliverio Casas "Heavy Metal Fan from Northern... (Montevideo, Uruguay) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Recognize No Authority (Audio CD)

Despite some people's misguided notion that this band had a punky edge and is somehow connected to the crossover movement, aside from some newscast samples and a cover art that would feel more at home on a Black Flag or Dead Kennedy's 7" EP, Recognize no Authority is a squarely mid 80's thrash release, right from the Hell Awaits inspired speedy riffery up to the then standard reverb drenched production. Some of you might also argue that the heavily political and current events inspired lyrics might steer away this act from thrash and into hardcore territory, but let's not forget that about the same time, both Megadeth and Dark Angel released albums that relied heavily on the same themes, and this band includes standard metal solos on all of it songs, an element crossover bands avoided on their earlier records.
In fact, on its mid 80s heyday, Detente was mostly notorious for being one of the two thrash bands featuring a female belter at the mike, Holy Moses being of course the other one.
Vocalist Dawn Crosby lacks Sabina Classen's natural aggressive voice and monster charm, and instead of nailing the aggressive succubus from hell persona she aims for ends up sounding like an annoying cat on a blender most of the time.
Shortly after the release of this album, the band disbanded mostly due to problems derived from Dawn Crosby's alcoholism and difficult personality.
That said, the thrash contained on this disc is far from bad, quite the contrary, there are plenty of enjoyable, mosh pittin' moments and the band sounds tight, inspired and aggressive, ultimately overcoming its vocalists shortcomings and the album's crappy production. This is far from an essential album, and I can only recommend it to serious 80s thrash fans. If classic female fronted thrash metal is what you're looking for, you'll be much better off tracking down Holy Moses' first three releases.
Useless Metal Trivia Note: This album features Ross Robinson on lead guitar, who would achieve fame in the mid 90s as the producer of career defining albums for bands such as Korn, Sepultura, Fear Factory, Machine Head and Soulfly, establishing himself as one of the main architect of the late 90s nu metal sound.