Considering his lineage, it's not surprising that Hank Williams III is a rebel. Even fans of his irreverent country material may be shocked, however, when confronted with ASSJACK. Raw, brutal death/thrash metal is the name of game here and anyone looking for steel guitars and weepy sentiment should run for the door. Often sounding like a combination of Pantera and G.G. Allin, this is punky music, made punkier by the fact that Williams played all the instruments himself. From the start-stop riffs and machine gun guitar picking of "Choking" to the Butthole Surfers-style aural insanity of "Redneck Ride," this is the sort of aggressive, in-your-face music that only a Hank Williams could make.
Say what you want about Shelton Hank Williams III -- love him, decry his "betrayal" of his heritage, or ignore him -- he can conceptualize, write, and play. Assjack is a death metal and metalcore band he created to play the final part of his live shows. Mostly audiences didn't stick around, but in recent years, through the whisper stream, Assjack has started to gain its own audience of younger fans who like their music extreme. In many ways, Assjack goes back to Hank III's real roots in punk and hardcore bands -- he's been talking about them since he released his first album. III has finally recorded his Assjack project in the studio. Though he plays with a full band on tour, he's done the album all by himself. This self-titled debut features III playing every instrument himself and producing. The album combines the extremities of Florida death metal, Hellbilly (III's other band) attitude, industrial metal, and skater hardcore. Clocking in at a little over 31 minutes, this is a blast-your-face-off outing with one song bleeding very purposefully into another. With the exception of some synth noise, III has done an exceptional job of making the outing sound live -- with the exception of some of the drums that sound programmed (which is fine). Standout cuts include the brutally emotional "Cut Throat" and the slamming "Cocaine the White Devil," which has the brutal power of later Ministry, the over the top volume and guitar riffing of Roach Motel, and the dynamics of Slipknot. This is a solid debut that appeals to a very particular audience. That said, everything here is done exceptionally well. ~ Thom Jurek

CMJ - "Written, performed and produced entirely by Hank III himself, ASSJACK is an effortless Mustang ride of down 'n' dirty heavy metal..."