Agoraphobic Nosebleed / Apartment 213 - Split 12"

Apartment 213 are fantastic, muddy as hell powerviolence-fused grindcore. This is all well and good, but they are annihilated here by the material on the ANb side. We all know splits aren't competitions, but sometimes one band will just totally outweigh the other. Sorry guys! It is with a small irony then that Apartment 213's vocalist guests on all the songs on the ANb side.

 

The Agoraphobic stuff here is unlike anything else in their catalogue. From what I can tell, the sound seems to be stripped down to just bass and drum machines? I'm not entirely sure if Hull's guitars are tuned excessively low or it is just basses in use here, but shit, it sounds amazing! Enough fuzz and groove to give Om a wake up call, and enough heaviness to compare with Filth-era Swans; this is bass music at it's finest! The only ANb long-timer to appear here is Randall, performing (as usual) with an enormous amount of venom. Coupled with Steve 213's powerviolence grunts, the songs on offer here really are as angry as you can get.

 

I love all the songs, but "Unwelcome Remarks" is probably my favourite out of the three, containing some of the greatest ANb lyrics ever; "I've never known a cokehead to forget a line", "I'd rather piss on my own hand than shake yours" and "Simon says 'watch your fucking mouth around the other fucking adults'" all of which sound a bit unusual when isolated but make up one of the angriest songs ever made. Holy shit! Out on Relapse Records

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Insect Warfare - World Extermination

Every now and then, in all scenes of music, a band or artist will come along and snowball into something massive. Insect Warfare were an absolutely fantastic grindcore band, so at least in that case they weren't shite as well as overrated. It'll just be the latter then. Phew. I feel bad writing that because I believe and want decent bands to get the attention and exposure that they deserve, but I don't think anyone can deny that Insect Warfare were insanely overrated in the time leading up to their demise. I think statements such as saying World Extermination is the Scum or FETO of our generation are just too goddamn far-fetched. Also I think Earache bastard Records are to blame for the world and his fucking cat owning World Extermination shirts. They must be selling them four for a pound.

Anyway, negativity aside (I genuinely do not mean to be so negative, I guess the sarcasm just takes over! I only mean what I say as an observation), World Extermination is a fucking cracking grindcore record. Those of you into the fast who somehow haven't heard this band (although I think that might be impossible unless you were cryogenically frozen for a few years) need to rectify that right away. Insect Warfare as a band are incredibly tight; and I'm talking forced anal penetration tight. You guys know what I'm talking about, right? Yikes! Even the d-beat sections of songs are devoid of the usual punky slack, which is almost unheard of.

These are, truly, prime cuts of grind; blasting and shredding with machine-like precision. The guitar tone is fat, as is the drum sound, and the absence of a bass guitar is not easily noticeable  Gracing the carnage with an overflowing venom is the frenetic dual vocal attack, completing the perfected grind blueprint. World Extermination is relentless, but it is also not afraid to "slow down" to a pace now and then that allows for a proper riff to sneak in. If you can't head-bang to "Hydraphobia" you don't deserve to have a fucking neck.

This album is everywhere, thanks to Earache, and picking up a copy cheap shouldn't be a problem. In fact, it's a piece of piss. This version here what I got is the original 2nd vinyl pressing on 625 Thrashcore / RSR, which was out before Earache got thier claws into the band. I picked this up almost without thinking, back when I was rich enough to take album recommendations from people on internet forums. I'm fucking glad that I did, though. It has a fucking awesome colour scheme going on and it even comes with a fuck-off bitchin' poster. Grind!

 

The County Medical Examiners - Olidous Operettas

This has to be one of my favourite records - just look at those colours! The way this album was packaged and marketed by Relapse was brilliant; alongside this excellently neausaeting vinyl package, the CD version came with extravagant packaging and a formeldihyde scented disc for ultra-mortician vibes. That's dedication!

 

For me, I find that I love The County Medical Examiners because they fill the void that Carcass left when they fucked off to make shit melodic death metal. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say they sound more like Carcass than Carcass ever have, and if you don't like Carcass, something tells me you won't like this.

 

The County Medical Examiners have come along way from their demos, and even their first LP. It really was a suprise for me that they would make such a well produced and heavy as fuck album. Anyone who has heard their earlier demos should sympathize with my opinion here. Olidous Operettas is fathoms above anything else this band has ever done. It is a shame that they haven't done anything since.

 

 

The joking-personas of band members indicates this is obviously a side project, and I hope that this isn't the end of the line for them. Although I gotta say, it'd be hard to top this record.
"Casper's Dictum" is one of my favourite grind/death metal songs, so please play it loud. Oh, and did I mention that they sound like Carcass? That's pretty important.