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Monster Truck Man is the recent EP from Russian thrashers Blood Pollution who, equipped with such delightfully clever song titles as "Too Big For You" and "Jesus Ate My Neighbours" deliver a brand of blue collar, beer can crushing, party rocking, cross-over thrash metal.

Their approach is almost equal parts thrash, punk and straight-up rock and roll. With a guitar sound striking a middle ground between the three, utilizing a more natural tone as opposed to the high distortion, processed tones you can usually associate with the genre. Nick Thrash's vocals are rough and ragged, with an ever-so-slight bluesy vibe, although for the most part sounds like he's shouting to you across a bar. The rhythm section is relatively standard, with a snappy, energetic approach to standard 4/4 beats with little in the way of variation.

Of course little is to be expected of variation at just over fifteen minutes of raucous cross-over, and I guess if you like the genre this should provide suitable amusement. It's not really my cup of tea, and if I'm being honest the whole release comes off a little too incessant in its standard riff and rhythm approach. The more hard rocking edge helps set this apart from the bands who take their cues from hardcore, and some of the riffs do nail a dusty blues feel which is cool, albeit an infrequent occurrence.

I doubt I'll be revisiting this one anytime soon, but for what it is, the material is fun enough; I'm sure it would be a riot in the live environment.