Amen is: Casey Chaos, vocals; Sonny Mayo and Paul Fig, guitars; Tumor John, bass; Shannon Larkin, drums.

Hyperbole surrounds Amen like a cloud of buzzing, bloodthirsty hornets. "Amen is the punkest, heaviest thing out of America since the Stooges and the MC5," glows Rat Scabies of The Damned. "Make no bones about it, we're the most brutal band on the planet and we're not worried about offending people," says drummer Shannon Larkin in a recent interview. And überproducer Ross Robinson (Korn, At the Drive-In, Slipknot) brazenly claims of Amen's second album, We Have Come For Your Parents, "there is no record on the planet ever made which hits the same level of intensity."

My god, man, that's some boast. What evidence does the Los Angeles band offer to back up such rabid statements?

Exhibit A: The album. Parents, like its self-titled predecessor, does indeed serve a suckerpunch to the solar plexus--the throat-clenched vocal menace of late-'80s Rollins Band is thrown headfirst into an inertial swirl of feedback, thrash, sinister dissonance and cyclotron rhythms. Though the record lacks dynamic variety, unlike much metal or contemporary punk it cuts a raggedly anarchic swath rather than round itself off in neatly trimmed edges.

Exhibit B: The vocalist. Amen singer and songwriter Casey Chaos, with his thousand-yard stare and frequently bleeding flesh, stands in the band's epicenter. His lyrics are splattered with violence, fear and loathing--toward America, religion, himself, even Calvin Klein. Curious, I reached the friendly--but opinionated--Casey on tour in Europe via a sputtering cell phone and let him ramble. Roll tape:

Willamette Week: If I were some housewife from Dubuque, and I see this guy Casey standing onstage, screaming and bleeding, the first question I'd ask him is: "Jesus, what's this guy's damage?"

Casey Chaos: Growing up in American society, you know? Being condemned for being an individual. Being one of the Columbine kids.... We have the audacity of interviewing these pieces-of-shit fucking cheerleaders and jocks that were all going, "Oooh, look how at how weird they are! They're wearing trenchcoats and listen to weird music...!" I think it's preposterous that the press, in typical American hypocritical fashion, sensationalized these kids as being the enemies. They're the problem? No, the kids who shot the place up weren't the problem. The problem was the cheerleaders and the jocks. [The shooters] were just a product of the problem. And people go, "Hey, if you don't like it in America, why don't you leave?" Well, y'know what? I was born in America, and love what America supposedly stands for, but I hate what it's become. And with this presidential election, and all these other charades of justice going on, it disgusts me. Are we really free? I come to Europe and I see what freedom is. There's no static from people. People aren't in fear of going into certain areas of towns. It just doesn't exist. We're the murder capital of the world and it's no fucking wonder.

But Turkish people in Germany get fucked with, and Muslims in Sweden get fucked with, so it's not entirely blissful in Europe.

No, it's not. But from the day you're born to the day you die in America, you're constantly bombarded with these icon images and brainwash methods to keep you a sweet subservient slave. From growing up in the swampland of Redneckville, and having people tell me I was a piece of shit because I didn't chew tobacco and fuck my sister and ride around in an airboat, I don't like it. I don't like a lot of Americans. I think a lot of them are fucking stupid. I'm not the most brightest guy in the world. I'm not any genius or a med student or anything like that. But at least I have an opinion. Hell is a mass of opinionless people to me, you know?

I'm seeing Amen described more and more as a "NuMetal" band in the press. Do you think that's the first step people take to categorize and try to diffuse whatever threat they may see you as posing?

I think it's just lack of knowledge, number one. Or just trying to categorize something that isn't categorizable. They think, "Oh, it's a heavy-sounding thing, and everyone's calling it NuMetal...." We're totally not NuMetal. There's nothing NuMetal about us. For me, I would have to say we're one of the few bands in America that are punk rock bands--and when I say punk rock, I mean Jerry Lee Lewis was punk rock. James Brown. Tom Waits. Diamanda Galás. PJ Harvey. That's all punk rock to me.

Much has been made about how "CK Killer" calls out Calvin Klein, Versace, etc. Do you feel it's contradictory to have product endorsements for music equipment in the back of the CD booklet?

I think if it's gear to make music, we'll gladly say we use it if we actually use it. The difference is there's truth in advertising and there's bullshit. The thing about Calvin Klein is that's he's a pornographer, and he murders people. I don't think there's been any guitar or drum ad that was in that icon/ pornography vein. Having an equipment endorsement is different than having a clothing endorsement.
I just feel that it promotes self-loathing. You know about his ad campaign, when it got pulled for child pornography. The whole thing was basically public murder. How many women have died in the name of trying to be some fucking unobtainable image? And men.

He was also castigated for heroin chic. With the idea of heroin being a chic thing, or Marilyn Manson being a Top 10 musician, do you think it's possible for anyone to shock America out of its complacency? I mean, the election certainly didn't do it.

I dunno, man. I don't try to shock people, because if I did wanna shock people, I'd definitely probably be in jail. I think what's important is for everyone to remain true to the integrity of their soul and be a good person. We're all so materialistic in America--people don't care about anything except having their happy little life and making as much money as possible. It's disheartening to me, and it fuels me to do what I do...to just follow your heart no matter what and be a person, and not a fucking liar, some piece of shit backstabber.

So when you see all these hyperbolic statements and raves about Amen, what's your reaction?

I'm flattered. You know, you're a journalist--certain people are really passionate and say their piece and make it like "the most fucked up band in the world" or whatever. I think, you know, there is some validity to it. I wouldn't say we were the greatest band since the MC5, though maybe in that person's opinion maybe we are.... There is a lot of praise, but I think there are a lot of people who are passionate about the band, because I think we're definitely one of the realest bands in the world, without a doubt. We play from our heart and everything else is second.

Well, with irony being so prevalent in American culture today, I can just imagine Amen in a Calvin Klein commercial in 10 years.

Ha ha ha ha! I doubt that. I seriously doubt that.