Embalming Theatre / XXX Maniak - Split 7"

What we have here is the 2006 split release between 7" masters Embalming Theatre and the excellent yet short lived gore/porn/cybergrind maniacs XXX Maniak. This, along with the Birdflesh / Hatebeak split and the Bowel Stew / Tu Carne split, constituted my first vinyl purchases ever. Those were the days! This was put out by the excellent Haunted Hotel Records on a run of 1000 copies; 300 on grey and 700 on black. According to Discogs, the grey ones were only available through Haunted Hotel's mail order. Good tactic, sirs.

This is my favourite Embalming Theatre shit, probably because it was the first I had ever heard. "Rotten Corpses..." is usual Embalming Theatre fare, but "Sadistic Mom" and "Come to me and I eat Your Horny Flesh" (which is in the running for the award for stupidest song title ever) are mind-numbingly catchy for this type of music. Embalming Theatre growl'n'grind through 5 minutes like it was nobody's business, stopping only for eery, dated sounding samples to lend some extra atmosphere to all the doom and gloom.

What dicks me off about the XXX Maniak side is that it starts from the inside out; an excellently super wicked cool gimmick, until you get a record player with an auto-lift function. As soon as move the needle to the disc label and drop it for playing, the bastard just lifts back off again thinking the record has finished! Never mind, I've probably listened this record to death on my old player anyway. Also dropping in at the right moment is rather difficult, so most of the time you find you miss the sample to the first song (not exactly a bad thing).

I'm not sure if I prefer XXX Maniak as a one piece or a two piece. This was one of the last things recorded with the two piece line up, and is very similar in sound and design to their material from the split 7" with I Shit On Your Face that was to come shortly afterwards. "Gays Vs. Blacks" confusingly juggles itself between the boundaries of disturbing and extremely amusing, and remains one of my favourite grind songs of all time. Make what you will of the sample before it.

This fantastic testament of filth is still embarrassingly cheap to pick up online, including the grey version, so get out there and buy that bastard! If you like heavy music and haven't heard either of these bands then you need to change that right now!