Impaled Nazarene / Beherit - Split 12"

This is a super-kvlt-as-fvvk bootleg release of two sound desk recordings from the Day Of Darkness Festifall in Finland, all the way back in 1991, although it wasn't released until 1994. It was originally released on 1000 copies of red wax, but has since been re-released and repackaged on several formats under different titles - such is the world of bootleggers! To be honest, I stumbled across this without even realizing that it was a bootleg. The only thing sucky about bootlegs is that it can hurt underground bands sometimes.

This is really, really cool, though. I mean, just the cover art for a start, but the music itself is fantastic; it's grainy, wobbly and a little bit awful, but that lends itself to the content immensely. I had almost forgotten Impaled Nazarene's dirgy beginnings (their full lengths always surprise me as being so well produced for such a savage band), and Beherit slay it here too. 

One to spin if you're feeling in an underground mood. 

Agathocles / Partiya - Split CD

Up until now I've been avoiding Agathocles split CDs to lower my risk of obtaining duplicate material that may already be on a 7" that I own. Agathocles have a notorious back-catalogue of re-hashed shit (sorry, but it's true), and as a collector on a budget I have put barriers in place to lessen the blow of unknowingly buying something that I already have. This was all well and good, until during a trade with a Canadian chum, I was gifted with a AGx split CD that is actually really, really good (and as far as I can tell, all original material). So, this no-AGx CDs barrier is now broken. Fucking great.

I've never heard of Partiya before. Hardly suprising, what with them being a rather obscure Russian crust band. All the songs and lyrics (and even the original name and logo) are in Russian, but are kindly translated for us English-speaking folk in the booklet. Thanks a million for that, because otherwise I wouldn't even know what the name of this band was. I cannae write Russian on me keyboard! That would have been a pickle. Their material is fast and well-produced, and despite the language barrier and potential difficulty in obtaining their stuff I am now on the quest for more Partiya recordings!

Agathocles sound a bit dank in comparison the well-put-together Partiya, but it doesn't take long for me to adjust. The sound here is really similar to the Mincer sessions, if not a bit thinner. This band know what they are good at, and seem to have fallen into a well-working system over the last 8 years or so. Blast blast blast, growl growl growl. What more do you want?

This little CD was put out through a collaberation of labels, so put aside a few minutes and check 'em all out. They are (in no particular order): No Bread, Black Cardinal, Wee Corn, Resist Label & Distro, Ok Punk Rock Records, Raw Distro and 83 Records.

Embalming Theatre / Swarrrm - Split 12"

Another record that I have been meaning to buy for years and years and years. I finally got it cheap at Obscene Extreme (like, Obscenely cheap ;D) and whilst I was chuffed to pieces to pick up a split 12" for round-abouts the price of a split 7" I was gutted as fuck to find out that the material here is all live! Maaaaan, why can't I ever research these things properly? The amount of surprises I've had just by spinning a fucking vinyl is bloody unbelievable! I know it's my fault but I cannot shake the disappointment.

 

I am not familiar with the works of Swarrrm so less than ten seconds into the horrendously recorded live set I've turned the bastard thing off. Embalming Theatre on the other hand have bizarrely placed a 7" worth of original material before their live tracks, which is a proper strange move but one that I applaud them for as it totally saves this 12" for me. The band never fail in their blast and gurgle approach, and kick things off with the oddball track "Tsunami Pt I: Survived to be Gangraped". Well, isn't that an unfortunate set of circumstances?

The live set that follows the studio tracks isn't that bad either; the quality is very acceptable and is probably a sound desk recording or something similar. There's a few Embalming Theatre classics here as well so that's more reason to be happy; "Someone Else in my Coffin" and "Get High on a Dead Dog" still sound amazing live. This 12" was put out by the possibly Pig Destroyer-obsessed Jennifer Grind Records, and is limited to 500 copies.

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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GUT / Rompeprop - Split 7"

GUT sounds absolutely huge on vinyl, I just wish they'd stop fucking around and play some more grind! I love the fun element of modern GUT whereas a lot of goregrinders shun them now, but on this record for the most part it's a template of "typical porn sample followed by uninspired five-to-ten second song with silly vocals". I am glad that I didn't shell out the earth for the original CD version of this, and I even commend Everydayhate for putting this on wax. Not to mention, "Nympho is a Gee" is my all time favourite GUT song (either that or "The Taboo Room"). But, unfortunately, the rest of the GUT side is massively disappointing, and often boring.

 

Rompeprop on the other hand simply cannot be faulted. Open up the sleeve and see written "If you think harmonizer / pitchshifter-vocals are fake, so is your distortion on your guitar!". That couldn't be more right! Big up the pitchshifted vokills! After the hilarious opener "Hallo!", Rompeprop gurgle'n'slam through some excellent polka-dance inducing goregrind for us all. 'Nuff said. Spin this, get up, wiggle back and forth and point those fingers.

 

Out on 500 copies, all of which may be white, I am not sure. I have number 234 / 500.

Unholy Grave / Nak'ay - Split 5"

It's been absolutely yonks since I last reviewed a 5" and upon receiving this I was horrified to find that my current record player doesn't player the little fuckers because of the auto-return function. Now, my old deck is a mixing deck and plays them fine, but it doesn't have a pre-amp, and therefore lacks volume when connected to my current, all-digital stereo set up. I wasn't exactly in the position to rush out and buy pointless pieces of electronic equipment, so there was only one thing to do; rip the bottom off my deck and have at the return mechanism. Die bitches! Two pieces of plastic and a spring later, the auto-return function is no more! Success! The only side affect to the surgery is that the platter now spins continuously when the deck is plugged in. Oh well. More incentive to turn the thing off at the mains when I'm not using it.

 

On to the music then! Unholy Grave unleash another distorted, grinding number upon us. I am almost convinced to switch my "rediculous collectability" obsession from Agathocles to this band, as Unholy Grave's stuff on splits is always nasty and as far as I have seen, mostly original tracks. Maybe I am wrong in my newbie-ness (is that even a word?) but collecting all their stuff instead seems a lot smarter and less-difficult a move (apart from those lathes you put out, you bastards). One thing I don't get with Unholy Grave however is the "singing" that is employed alongside the harsher vocals, I personally don't think it fits but I guess it makes Unholy Grave.

 

On the flip-side I can't be so enthusiastic about Nak'ay; not that there is anything wrong here - the band are a great example of no-nonsense grindcore - it's just that Unholy Grave tend to overshadow them a bit. A seriously good discovery however, and I will be checking them out in the future (or so I intend to; I seem to be very "scatterfuck" when it comes to music, especially genres). We can thank a large collaboration effort of excellent grind labels for bringing this 5" into the world, and I implore you to check them all out because they all have an excellent array of releases. Limited to 1000 copies, all of which seem to be black.

 Labels:
Haunted Hotel Records, Crucificados Pelo Sistema, Insurgency Records, Everydayhate, To Live A Lie, Drop Out Records

Kroh / Ice Dragon - Split 7"

Kroh are on top form here, bringing up more mega-heavy tunage with their trademark crooning vocals. This could be a B-side from the S/T recording sessions for all I know, the sound is that similar to the recordings used there. Does it matter? Nope. Great stuff! Fat production, brilliant singing and THAT guitar sound that we love so much from Fukpig.

 

Ice Dragon I can't get my head around, unfortunately. The sound is an absolute mess, and the band play in some sort of melodic trad doom approach which is as confusing as it is interesting. Imagine merging Zeppelin and Sabbath in a birthing pool filled to the brim with the essence of the modern stoner metal sound, and then throw in some awful production values and you've pretty much got Ice Dragon. Eventually the song slows into one epic solo and shit sounds great, but when things are going faster it just all falls apart. I think I need to see these live to form a decent opinion on them.

Limited to 100 copies on Devizes Records, 50 on green wax and 50 on orange (this fucker).

Brutal Truth / Spazz - Split 7"

This here version of this awesome little record is the 2010 repress by Deep Six Records. For those of you not in the know (like me when I bought this - Ha ha!) this split was originally released back in 1996 as a collaboration between fellow blogspotters Bovine Records and Rhetoric Records. I got this off the Bones Brigade stall in Hellfest 2010.

Basically what we have here is more horrible spazzy 8 track foolishness from Brutal Truth! Exactly what the doctor ordered! Again, with my previous post, the production is a little bit questionable considering the usual Brutal Truth fare. It’s a crisper sound than on “Machine Parts +4”, but it is also a lot faster and a lot more frenetic. The only speed info is on the Spazz side incorrectly claims 33rpm but this record’s horrid blasting plays at 45. Before you can blink, this shit is over.

Spazz on the flipside offer a more clear cut selection of tunes. The songs are still pulverizing grind, but the bass is extremely high in the mix, giving it an almost punk rock feel. And then the fucking banjo kicks in. Wow. This is my first experience with the works of Spazz, and I am impressed. The punky feel is retained throughout, and I thoroughly enjoy the listen. Note to self: download more Spazz.

Brutal Truth’s muddy madness is no match for Spazz’s banjo’n’blastbeat skate-themed grindcore. There is clearly only one winner here!

Bowel Stew / Tu Carne - Split 7"

Another one of my first ever 7" purchases. This time, horrible, disgusting goregrind, of course! This is the Bowel Stew split 7" with Tu Carne, released in 2004 on the no longer active American label Murder The World. The cover is a bit fucked up, if your not a gore-hound be prepared to be a bit shocked.

Both bands offer up noisy passages of goregrind, Tu Carne are probably a bit more organised than the sludgy, liquid putridity of Bowel Stew. There is something about Bowel Stew's material that is somewhat inconsistent. Perhaps there has been lots of line up changes? I don't know, I'm not that well educated about their existence. This is definitly for fans of this niche genre only, I can't see it appealing to many others. Still, great horrible music!