This latest Kendrick Lamar record is a strange collection of what is supposed to be left over tracks and ideas related to the rapper's previous record, To Pimp A Butterfly. Musically, it has a lot in common with the beats and instrumentation of that album, but as these songs are demos, there is a welcome rougher feel to things. At first the vocals seem a little lo-fi, but every falls into place quickly and the slight drop in quality feels like a welcome addition rather than a curse.
Personally, I prefer this to the album itself. I mean, for a "collection of tracks" in such a way that is usually a proper good ol' barrel scrape for most artists, these are pretty fucking decent. I've never really been that much into Kendrick Lamar, but hopefully this release will help change all that.
So I just found out that WTC split up, which is a shame, but IMO they have never been able to ever top their first album, Perverse Recollections Of A Necromangler. This final "goodbye" CD is quite misleading, as the title and the high quality cover art suggests a new record, however all we have here is a bunch of demos cobbled together onto one CD. Now, if you are a massive WTC fan, I guess you could get excited for finally owning the original versions of "Chased Through The Woods By A Rapist" and "Blood-Splattered Satisfaction", if it were not for the fucking abysmal remaster/remix job.
Yes, for reasons unknown to man, the demos appear to have been drenched in shitty reverb, as if this were a late 90s ambient black metal cassette. The other four demos do little to really add to the package, as does the 17 minute run time (especially considering "Blood-Splattered Satisfaction" appears twice). Disappointing send off. Definitely for collectors only.
This double CD
package brings together a bunch of old splits and demos from the prolific,
blackened grinding thrashers Nunslaughter, as well as a bevvy of live tracks.
The splits and demos are fantastic, and I will surely review them on their own
with the material from the respective splitting bands, but I just want to cast
some light on this little package as I got my hands on a copy recently. Do you love
Nunslaughter? Yes? Good. Do you love horrendously recorded live material? Er… Unfortunately,
about a third of disc one and the entirety of disc two is nothing but awful
recordings of live performances. I picked this CD up when I recently bought
some second hand cymbals so I didn’t pay too much for it so I’m not
particularly bothered, but don’t be fooled by the ace looking art and fancy 2
disc set. This is handy if you can get it cheap and want all the old
Nunslaughter stuff in one place, but the sheer volume of crap live tracks
really cheapens this package, which is a shame. Definitely for die-hards and
collectors only. Here are some tracks off the Blood Devil 7", which appears on disc one.
This here is the fantastic repress on Power It Up Records. Mine, unfortunately, is not the edition with the bonus 7" (I didn't know it existed when I bought this, which is a shame as I wouldn't have minded paying a bit extra for the whole set). This set contains Effortless Regurgitation... on one slab of wax, and the Concrete Human Torture tape plastered onto a single side of another slab of wax. Adorning side D is a brilliant etching of the old spiky Regurgitate logo. What a brilliant set this is! Shame about the 7", as that too contains an old demo/split thing and it would have been nice to round off this package of old Regurgitate shits.
The intro to Effortless.... is one of the most harrowing things ever, and it really sets the mood for the excruciating mix of Discharge meets early Carcass that is to come. I love Regurgitate's blast'n'd-beat approach to goregrind (although the d-beat isn't as prominent here as it is on later records), the mix is perfect! The vocals here aren't as high up on the scale of toilet-bowl-goodness as later albums but they are still shifted to hell and disturbing as fuck. The drumming is dirty and relentless, the guitar work is muddy and the bass is fuzzy and non-existent almost, but this record is fecking awesome!
Concrete Human Torture suprised me by having a slightly better production job; I always assumed it was a shitty demo, being one of thier first released tapes and all. But, no! Everything is wrapped up in a crisper world here. The drums are much clearer and things seem a lot tighter, mainly because there is less muddiness in the mix.
The price on this set is absolutely criminal, currently averaging £15 on Discogs. I highly recommend it, especially the version with the extra 7", as it is a bloody good bargain and you get three early Regurgitate releases in one go, all on lovely jubbly vinyl. The only downer I can find with this release is that the gore pictures on the front and back cover seem a little stretched, giving the artwork a bit of a cheap feel, but that really is the minor downer here, this set is fucking amazing!
