Narcolepsia batch : SSRI / Murder Book / Torba

SSRI “Robust” tape

SSRI is a two headed creature, but I’ve always thought that that contribution of one of them goes over the other. Pekka from Gelsomina/Sick Seed is all over the place here, delivering his classic brand of junkyard noise, a powerful mix of broken frequencies, bursting bass waves and pure harsh bursts. The taste is exquisitely Finnish on this one, with a Hal Hutchinson layer of thoughts over the whole tape. At points “Robust” is really annoying, in the way a good noise album can be, pushing the brutal side over the cerebral one. The only flaw I can point out is the lacking some atmosphere, maybe pushing a bit too much the bidimensional nature of this tape. But don’t get me wrong, this is exactly what you’re expecting from a SSRI album, hands down!

MURDER BOOK “Diary entry #1 : stalked walking home” tape

Murder Book is a project by George Proctor, mainly known for his main act Mutant Ape. Ambient, drone and a hint of wall is all merged up here to create disturbing soundscapes of unpleasent moments and memories you wanted to forget. This tape is called “Diary entry #1 : stalked walking home” and I came across this title a couple of months ago, while browsing a discogs seller list. It immediately got stuck in my mind as I was wondering the musical expression of the feeling of being haunted by someone. I finally got the tape a bunch of days ago and listened to it. The same evening I was driving at night and stopped into an empty gas station to fill up the tank. It was around 1 a.m. and, apart from a thick fog, nobody was around. I immediately felt stared by someone and the weird and disturbing feeling of being spied went directly through my bones. It didn’t left my body until I was back home. Imagine my story, close your eyes and let your brain transform it into music. That’s how this tape sounds.

TORBA “Dvott stovn” tape

Torba is surely one of the most fascinating projects of Italian experimental music. This great artist focuses his efforts in putting together all sorts of sounds, from found footage to cut and paste noise frequencies, going through loops, field recordings and many more. This results in a very wide range of sounds and a thick intelligence presence in its music. Exploring and experimenting, Torba is a living organism that can mantain its basic form while expanding in every direction and enrichening its ability to sound fresh. This is just brilliant, absolutely reccomended!!!

Droning through human bone flutes

DOLPO “Inner Himalayas” LP

Let’s kick off again with a way different record than the ones usually reviewed here. Dolpo is an experimental band out of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The very nature of the project is quite fascinating to grasp, with a core of members and a rotating cast of session musicians gravitating around the Dolpo sun. Every note here is deeply rooted in the Tibetan soundscape, with a wide range of traditional instruments used over a solid droning bone system. The main structure of the music can be described as a mix of drone (“Hex : or printing in the infernal method” era Earth), chords-based dark ambient and the more ritualistic side of sludge, not too far from the “Catharsis” / “Illusion of motion” / “The unreal never lived” triple strike by Yob. Take all of this and plunge it in the dark and mystical vibes of Tibetan music. There are a lot of unique percussions and horns, I’m not fluent in Tibetan instruments, so I won’t go deep in that, but the final result is awesome. It’s an incredible musical oxymoron. The classic sludgy side of the record keeps you aware and bound to a tangible shape that you can grasp, while the high-mountains side of it drags you by the throat into a spiritual maelstrom of visions. The field recordings enhance the elusive feeling of being really part of the travel. This spiritual approach is absolutely not new, but I have to admit that it was rarely well conceived and perfectly fitting with the main musical structure as in “Inner Himalayas”. The mantra-shaped mentality is strong but not as obsessive and it may sound at first glance. It surrounds you, it circles around, clutching your aura round after round. It’s not crushing, it’s more like something that you can’t grasp at first but ends up being part of you. I’m not always a fan of ultra-slow music, except when it transcends its usual forms and crashes the boundaries to become something more. This is so unique in its concept that it even reminded me the dissociative feeling of songs like “Sidottu” by Vihanmiehet. A special mantion must be made about the physical copy of the record. While looking cheap at first, this is the perfect example of making gold with what you have. A simple screen printed foldout cover reveals three cool photos glued in the inner pages of it, with a 12″ insert and a Katmandu newspaper with Tibetan incense in it. The record is pressed on a smokey clear vinyl and everything rounds the square of a visual and aural experience that deserves your efforts. This is an awesome record, throwing you back to the times when Ufomammut released “Idolum”, showing the world that Italy can have its own say when it comes to slow music.

Playing with your eardrums –> Ending music

V.A. “ABOLISH MUSIC NOW!” Flexi 7″

A new year just kicked off and since I’m just like everyone else, I’ve made a bunch of resolutions I’m going to unfulfill. One of them is pretty important to me and deals with reviving the blog. Near the end of 2018 I’ve published on my Facebook page a list of all my favorite releases of 2018 (HOW ORIGINAL, UH?), including the infernal racket which is “Abolish music now!”. Its creator, the almight Dave from Disleksick expected an ass long review on this blog so, since he’s been in and out these pages since the beginning I thought I owed him something. If you hated this blog and its return annoys you, blame Dave.
As I’ve said above, “Abolish music now!” is the brainchild of Dave, who’s known for Disleksick and his noise solo project. This is a compilation assembled with the legendary “Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!” strongly in mind. An incredible amount of bands delivering short songs with no time to breathe between each one. The result is a perfect who’s who of the noise scene of the latest year, with widely known bands side by side with more obscure gems. Probably, the top famous bands on the record are Yacopsae, Facialmess, Incapacitants and Sissy Spacek, but a huge lot of post-2000 noise legends are here, like Sedem Minut Strachu, Harsh Supplement, Napalm Death Is Dead, Disleksick, Shitnoise Bastards, Post Natal Drip, Hades Mining Co., Beggin For Oxys and Reeking Cross. And what about Frank Goshit? Talking about single bands is a waste of time, this is an endless stream of consciousness that flows for the scarce length of this fancy flexi EP. The tracks are so well placed that they flow one within the other without letting your inner self feel that the band is changing. Like Disleksick itself, this compilation is a wide kaleidoscope of styles, an unpredictable fierce beast that confuses you. It’s somehow mesmerizing, but yet so deeply enjoyable as a noise monolith. This is obviously not for everybody and elevates bands with endless tapes discographies to mythological status. This is exactly what I like. Great compilations are useful maps of the scene in the time they’re released. This is like the good old “Small doses“. This is your GPS in smashed notes. Grab a copy and support one of the most dedicated and competent guys around.

AGATHOSODOMI!!!

AGATHOCLES / DECHE-CHARGE “Agatho-charge” 7″EP 

When you’re an avid listener of grindcore, Agathocles is something you grow used to. While the classic stuff by the Mol band is generally praised as the blueprint of the crusty and noisy raw grindcore sound, the habit of recording and releasing everything, from rehearsals and live show, morphed the band in something with a minor impact than before. You usually buy an Agathocles record for some sort of affection and to check the other band on the split. And that’s a shame, because Agathocles is still Agathocles and you never feel cheated by one of their records. Maybe it won’t be so groundbreaking or memorable, but it’s always well crafted and, most of all, HONEST grindcore. Their sound of course changed and the mincecore era is still going strong from the late 90’s, even with some digressions in Swans-like soundscaping or pure noisecore. This split EP is still a 100% Agathocles record but, as happened before with some cover sessions, they are putting the spotlight on their hardcore side. Jan is a well-renowed obscure hardcore guru and he knows his stuff. The result is a mincecore record with more focus on riffing, drum fills and an overall retro-HC vibe. There’s some Pandemonium, some Larm, some Boston hardcore and some primordial Central/South America going on here, everything perfectly nestled into a solid crusty sound. This is by far one of their best efforts in recent times and an absolute banger.
On the flip-side : Deche-Charge. For me, along with 7 Minutes Of Nausea, Noise Waste and Final Exit, the absolute kings of classic noisecore. While noisecore is having a kind of resurgency right now, their “reunion” or a somewhat revamped activity some years ago, is a consolidated thing and they manage to always deliver top notch noise. This split EP makes no difference. 356 songs bursted out by one of the most appreciated line ups (Chainsaw, Dan, Seb and Fred). This side is a true rollercoaster. Features at least three different styles : the infinite maelstrom of blurr, the “1-2-3”-noise kind of songs and my favorire from D.C. – the avalanche!!! Well, that’s a name I’ve made up by myself, but I use it to describe when Deche Charge start to do very short songs flowing one into the other and reducing each time the pause between each burst. I love it. This is really amazing. Funny yet pissed off noisecore from the masters themselves!!!

PARLAMENTARISK SODOMI / GYNEKOLOGENE “Split” 7″EP

In the far away year of 2007 I’ve read on the almighty webzine Braindead a review by Pierre of the Parlamentarisk Sodomi demo. I was immediately hooke and fell in love for the band ever since. They were absolutely one of the best new grindcore bands of that era and along with Insect Warfare, Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation, Archagathus and Looking For An Answer helped grindcore live a new youth. After a bunch of releases the project kinda froze, with the main (and only) man behind the band, Steinar, focusing on other projects like pig-themed band BxSxRx and the space-grind band Psudoku. This is their “comeback” record and, woah, it rips! First of all the usual classic grindcore format got twisted and the band is starting to focus on a grindnoise with a main feature : ULTRA-SPEED! It reminds me of the first album by Noisebazooka or like a more polished version of Arsedestroyer. This is fast, ripping and with a sharp sound that makes everything really deadly. The often clean electric guitar sound adds a odd sense of swarming insects to the songs that makes this record really unique. Their new record has just been released and is on the way to my place. You just can’t go wrong with Parlamentarisk Sodomi.
Gynekologene is a mysterious duo which deliver two songs of snotty punk. The pairing with thew other side of the EP is quite odd but, in fact, it really works. These two anonymous musicians deliver a killer mix of early first generation punk à-la Dead Boys, mixed with first wave Finnish punk hardcore (think of really early Rattus) infused into a strong amount of distorted odl school Japanese punk, with a strong The Stalin (Stop Jap era) influence. The overall is somewhat similar to the one delivered by the might Netjajev SS. How can you go wrong with that?

Nihilist Nausea

NIHILIST COMMANDO “Noisecore violations 2002-2008”

 

This is quite an old one. When they first fell into my radar I was blown away by Nihilist Commando. My first approach to this Finnish noisecore project was with the legendary “I’m going ape” compilation series, more precisely with the first volume of it. My head was melted by a grinding kind of noisecore, but ehi, don’t get me wrong. Structures are very scarce here, but there are some 3-4 notes riffs thrown in the mix, making Nihilist Commando a bit different from the classic threestrikesofsticksblurr kind of noisecore. What really caught my attention was the approach to the subject. Nihilist Commando is hands down one of the angriest and most pissed off bands in the game, probably sharing the throne with another Finnish act, the freshly new S.E.X.. This CD collects all the recorded stuff by the band, so the three demos are here, along with the compilation tracks (like those from “I’m going ape”). The tracks from the “Freak power” and “Suomi Finland noisecore” are not here but there are some great unreleased stuff plus a live session. When it comes to Nihilist Commando there is always some political awkwardness, but I won’t talk about that. The music (or the lack of, maybe) here is absolutely top notch, plus there’s a really fat booklet to feed your brain. Arsedestroyer, Aunt Mary and pre-Relapse-era Anal Cunt fans rejoice, this is a killer release!

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS / 7 MINUTES OF NAUSEA split 7″

 

Well, this is a great surprise. Slaughter Of The Innocents made a huge impact some years ago, recording two really good split EP’s with Endless Demise and Sakatat. The a split CD with Obscure Oath came out but after that they disappeared. Eight (EIGHT) years their latest output they’re back again, teaming up with the absolute gods of noisecore. S.O.T.I. sound is as thick as it can be. Featuring Bertil from Ken Brockman on bass and Thomas from Ventilator (yes, THOSE Ventilator!!!) on guitar, S.O.T.I. keeps up with the band name and really draw a lot of their sound from Repulsion, adding some early Napalm Death and Assuck to it. This is top notch grindcore and it’s a real shame that they released so little amount of music in sixteen years of existence. Seven Minutes Of Nausea is just pure noisecore perfection. They deliver their usual, ultra classic wall of blurrcore and they’re renewed approach with “good” production and volume is really great. The duo Mick / Mathias is still at the top of the game and now is possible to clearly hear each distorted note they destroy. An amazing thing about this EP is that it’s not splitted into two sides but for each Slaughter Of The Innocents song there’s a bunch of Seven Minutes Of Nausea tracks. The final result is really great, each band perfectly fits in the other and the record as a whole is extremely enjoyable. As for me, a strong contender for this winter’s top record.

[EDIT : Tomas of S.O.T.I. wrote me and told me that Bertil is no more in the band, which consists now of him on vocals and Peter on vocals, bass and drums, both ex-Ventilator. Thanks man!]

Three records (I)

LIFE OF REFUSAL “Survival in negative“

I’ve always kept a special place in my heart for Life Of Refusal. When their first EP came out I was very enthusiastic about it, seeing through the unpolished edges a band that was really convincing in their own craft. Then, silence. In 2014 these guys released a 7″ EP that was nearly impossible to find in Europe, forcing me to listen to it on Bandcamp. Which means that I’ve listened to it a couple of times and put it aside. Then 2016 came and Life Of Refusal finally kick back, with a 7″ slab of vinyl that goes by the name of “Survival in negative” and puts the band back up in my top choices for the year. This is bleak, dark and, mostly, HEAVY powerviolence. Songwriting-wise Life Of Refusal stuck to the formula of their first EP, only enhanching the extreme edges of their sound and forcing some aspects a bit more. To me they sound a lot like those third-fourth-whatever powerviolence bands of some years ago, like Ultra Negative and Vile Intent, but with a pure straightforward hardcore approach, more in the vein of Weeken Nachos or early Hatred Surge. Long story short, this is a killer EP, with solid songwriting, simple yet addicting songs with the right amount of tempo changes, breakdowns and reckless accelerations. The monotonous voice only adds a curious vibe, sometimes not so far from early NYHC, sometimes (when Chris spits out words faster than a machinegun) an odd Rupture feeling. Extra kudos for the “Lucid fairytale” cover.

KUSIPÄÄ “Vittuun koko maailma“

This can be one of the simpliest reviews ever. Kusipää play some of the most pissed off hardcore that you can find on a record. That’s it. Hailing from Finland they don’t really stick to the classic Finnish formula, instead they opt for a more straightforward and linear approach, with a neverending pouding drums assault, raunchy guitar, a not-so-high-in-the-mix-but-you-can-feel-it-pouding-in-the-back-of-your-head bass and a very, very, very angry vocal approach. The Finnish school of hardcore is honored with the sheer amount of angriness that flows through this record, even if delivered using a quite simple music. Kusipää are not fast or ultra-noisy or too extreme. They’re like a rabid dog grinding his teeth, freezed on his legs but in full tension and with rage-spitting eyes.

IMPULSE “Backbreaker“

I kinda arrived late on the Impulse train, totally missing the release of their amazing “Chula violence” EP a couple of years ago. This year I’ve bought the new 7″, “Backbreaker”, quickly getting a copy of the debut record. “Backbreaker” keep up the style of its predecessor, delivering a really, REALLY, fast of hardcore tinged with powerviolence. The obvious comparison would be Infest, with Coke Bust right after them, but Impulse made the great accomplishment of sticking to a classic formula yet sounding totally personal. The vocals are really cool, sounding really hard and pissed off without falling in the growl category, instead they are almost totally in the high pitched bark range, sounding like early Youth Of Today on a higher note. Musically wise Impulse are filled to the top with breakneck speed parts, tempo changes, breakdowns, stop-and-go’s and an overall feeling of urgency. This is hands down a keeper and will make all fans of the aforementioned Infest and Coke Bust, but also No Comment or Sidetracked, really really happy.

Legends never die

OK, here I am. After a way too long hiatus I’ve finally found the motivation to find the time and the energy to get back here. This is one of the most appreciated and most satisfying projects i’ve ever carried in my life and I’m really missing the pleasure to write long and unrequested opinions on records I love. I wanted to kick back in talking about musicians that I love, that released an incredible amount of great records and never failed me. Ryohei, Hisao and Doug looked an appropriate comeback team to me. I’ve missed this, but now I’m here. Have a good read.

FINAL EXIT / ERECTILE DEMENTIA split EP

(Backwoods Butcher records)

Probably I’m just overthinking. When I first dropped the needle on this EP I was overwhelmed by a single strong idea. An idea made by three words : Detroit, rock, city. Final Exit dwelled a lot into the KISS territory, both with scattered covers and with a full cover EP (well, half of a full cover EP, since the other side of the record was filled with Ironia’s “music” and adorned with their infamous cigarette-smoking-vagina cover photo), so when the record started with a sound similar to a door slamming, followed by various other noises, from opening a bottle, to far-away steps and microphone static, I’ve immediately thought about the beginning of KISS most iconic song. Anyway, enough of my brain wanks, let’s go to the music. Final Exit kick in with a long, slow and somehow mesmerizing instrumental intro, aptly titled “Teen’s spring blues”. Woodstock, universal peace, free love. Luckly everything gets smashed down by a super classic noisecore explosion. Final Exit never fail in this, they are masters in creating funky and absolutely funny disco/surf/pop/groove moments and then destroy everything in sight with their drums and guitar noisecore. The main difference between this record and their previous outputs is that on here there is a lot more of grindcore into their music. The usual random bursts of pure noise are all over the place, obviously, but this time Ryohei and Hisao connect them using cool pure grindcore moments. The keyword here is : structure. What? Structure? In a noisecore record? Well, yes, structure; and believe me, it works. Final Exit switched the core of their sound from noisecore to noisegrind and the result is GREAT. They even put a sludgy part in this EP, playing with blank and filled spaces. The entertaining level of this slab of vinyl is very high. Imagine Seven Minutes Of Nausea, dumping the classic feedback and using a mix of Fear Of God and mid-90’s Anal Cunt grind to connect each burst of noise and throwing in surf, jazzy and rock n roll segments. Final Exit made something that seemed impossible to me : improve their sound. They are hands down one of my favorite noisecore bands and this EP is just another proof that they are in the top tier of noise.

 
When it’s time to switch to the flipside it’s easy to think that it must be very hard to keep up with the quality of the A-side. Instead of finding a mere sparring partner, the B-side features another heavyweight of extreme music. Mr Doug Long takes all the instruments duties in Erectile Dementia, another one of his many side projects. Just like Magnus of Netjajev SS fame, Doug has the ability to start a lot of bands, keep up with everyone of them and keep a high quality level. Erectile Dementia is a very cool mix of old school raw grindcore (the one that comes straight from Siege), noise, fastcore and the usual weird blues and rocking parts that Doug perfectioned in Brody’s Militia. Just as his friends on the other side of the split, Mr Long plays a lot with contrast, switching from a roaring and brutal avalanche of noise to a relaxed and chilling rock n roll attitude. It’s really cool to see someone that started with a blistering fast band like Hellnation enrich his music with such variety. If you listened to the latest Brody’s Militia outputs (mainly “Cycle of hate” and “Napalm Zeppelin raids”) you can have a loose idea of what to expect here. My advice is to grab one copy of this split as fast as a shark, because this is pure gold and a solid split between two bands made by three guys that really know how to craft top notch noisy music.

55 ways to flush your toilet

It surely is quite difficult to write something about a project like this one. As for the 100 way split 7″ released a couple of years ago by NHDIYSTREC, this slab of vinyl is filled to the rim with 55 bands. I think this kind of format choice is the “worst” one in terms of distinguish one band from the other one, or simply, you know, keeping track of wich song is playing. BUT a couple of decades ago Slap A Ham taught us that putting together a shitload of different bands’ short songs and cram a 7″ EP with them can be a very good choice. “Tunes from the toilet Vol. 1” is a very enjoyable and nice travel in the realms of pure noise. While other projects stuck to defined genres, this time you can have a very wide spectrum of the extreme noise underground situation. Songs here go from power electronics to ambient and harsh noise, going through powerviolence, weird grindcore and even shitnoise stuff a-la A.R.C.A.D.E.. It’s really, REALLY, hard to point out a band instead of another one. There are even some quite well known names here, like Decayed Race, Sissy Spacek, To Die, Sordo and Water Torture, but they all got mixed up in this amazing whirlwind of noise and weird frequencies. The overall feeling is quite disturbing and distressful, but in the way a great harsh sounding release can be. You will feel beaten and shaken, with moments of eerie sounding low frequencies bursting in saw shaped waves assaults in less than a second. The two sides are quite equal in terms of violence and variety, so you will find yourself flipping this record quite often. As I’ve said before, I really can’t talk about one band instead of another one making my opinions about what each one of them put on this compilation. This 55 songs mayhem is like a huge collective quest for ear bleeding noise, with every project submitting its part for the mission. I can’t reccomend “Tunes from the toilet Vol.1” to fans of grindcore, or to powerviolence or harsh noise ones. This is a nice addition to every extreme music fan collection. Knee deep in noise.

 

I really want to thank they guys from Aterpe (they’re from Thailand and sing in Euskera, the language of the Basque country -speaking of unusual choices!-, check ’em out!) who sent me this promo copy and apologize to them for the long delay in writing this review, but, as everyone’s probably already noticed, my life is quite busy and I can’t write as often as I really wish. Sorry about that.

50 Reasons to start listening to Yattai

Yattai is a grindcore band from France which has been active for almost a decade now. They are a pretty regular installment in Euro distros and you can easily find a bunch of their records around, mostly the split EPs with Fantastikolhole and Grunt Grunt.
“50 Love Hymns For Grindheads” is a super-exhaustive compilation CD of all their recordings, from their 2005 Demo to their split EP with Trepan Dead, going through the above mentioned split 7″, the split CDs with Gastrick Burst, Cakewet and Jack, a compilation track and even some unreleased songs from a 2008 session. This stuff is assembled in an anti-chronological order, so it will start from the most recent one and ends with the older one.
Yattai has been a really growing band, starting from a promising but yet not very personal form of fast grindcore to a very well crafted music assault. Their nowdays style can be described as a blastbeat driven grindcore, not far from stuff like Kill The Client or later Insect Warfare, with a strong bass line and a screaming ridden vocal approach. In Yattai there is a full time vocalis, Gautier, who is paired by the two guitar players support. As I’ve said above the vocal lines are mainly in the scream part of the spectrum, enhancing the sense of speed, but the growls thrown here and there add a lot of thickness to the sound. Speed is a key word in this collection, but as light is enhanched by shadows, speed is enhanched by slower section. Yattai are very good in shifting tempos and you will find yourself going from blast beatting with your fingers to a groovy headbanging session. The “slow” songs are killer and really set the mood for the oncoming full throttle grind assault. Now I have to talk about the guitars. Well, I’m not always liking the choice of the effects, but the riffs (which are, obviously, the most important part in guitar work) are AMAZING. This is what makes this band really good. It’s fucking fast grindcore with a great approach in songwriting, mixing some classic hardcore vibes to unmerciful powerviolence neckbreaking riffage. Imagine a mix of early S.O.B., Nausa, Iron Lung and Insect Warfare and you will have an idea of the style shown by Yattai. This is a statement mostly based on their later recordings, since when you’ll make your way through this collection you will find the sound becoming more classic and less personal. BUT the best thing about “50 Love Hymns For Grindheads” is that it shows a band in constant movement and ready to step out of the bunch with strong and personal sound. This is a nice one, maybe being a collection of so many recordings it can be a tough task going from the beginning to the end, but it can surely be a great listening.
Check it out!

[Thanks to Gautier / Yattai for the CD]

ORGANIZED TO GORGONIZE : a Gorgonized Dorks special – part I

GORGONIZED DORKS / MAXIMUM THRASH

You know why it’s always a great pleasure to review Gorgonized Dorks? Because you can’t know what to expect to hear when the needle drops on the record. Their main genre can be thrown in the noisecore shelf, but I’ve heard straight forward grindcore, some hardcore, drone, power electronics and even some new wave stuff. This time a pounding riff and a straight drum beat introduces a song that will scream four clear letters : G I S M.
Nothing more, nothing less. This is a pure and humble worship tune to the masters of metal punk, one of the most influential HC bands of all times. The next three songs walk the thin line between Japanese hardcore and late 80’s grindcore, so you know what to expect : dissonant riffs, crusty drums and ultra filthy vocals. This is great stuff and a highly enjoyable Dorks release. The first track steals the show without mercy and you will find yourself putting your needle back again a lot of times to have another dose of this amazing GISM tribute.

On the flipside we can find Maximum Thrash from Indonesia. This relatively new band has already shared its way with bands like Lt Dan, Agathocles and Archagathus, so I think they will really move fast in a very short time! This side contains five songs : four or them are new studio track (well, one is a re-recording of an older tune), while the last one is a live in studio. Their style is a mix between late 90’s mincecore and classic grindcore in the vein of SMG, with a little sparkle of powerviolence. They sound good, old school and raw, so listening to this record can be really enjoyable for all of those who love that kind of crude and fuzzy sound. There’s a cool thing about the band : they have two singers (a girl and a guy) but no bass guitar. Quite odd! Anyway, their sound is very meaty and powerful even without the 4 string support. Maybe this stuff needs more development to really stand out, even if it’s already really nice. There are some flaws here and there, like the first song starting abruptly with something that sounds like a cut out incipit or the fact that with two singers I expect more variety vocal wise, but the premises are very good.
On a sidenote : the ring sticker is sick!

GORGONIZED DORKS / DISLEKSICK

How can you describe a record that starts with a cover of Napalm Death’s “Multinational Corporations”? This is a total back to basics for Gorgonized Dorks and a real pleasure to hear for all noisecore fanatics out there! After the aforementioned cover song the US duo bursts into a series of short noisegrind songs that can really rip your scalp away. I’m really enthusiast about how they sound on this split EP, because this is a total flashback to their early days and the beginning of my passion for them. Pure, brutal and no-compromises noisy grind, the way it should be. I think the main influences here are Tumour and Sore Throat, because these songs have a strong Euro feeling to them, plus they are very noisy but they keep a solid grinding hardcore structure that make each song noisy but memorable. Plus, the Katz vocal tone is really great on this one. This is one the top five releases by the Dorks, without any doubt. And “Organized to Gorgonize” is one of the best song titles I’ve read this year.

Disleksick is another great band and it’s always a great pleasure to talk about them! Their side is in the same “own old school” way of the Gorgonized Dorks, one, but this time with a strong twist to it. As long as we speak about strings the mood is relly near the monotonic grindcore of the beginnings of the band (like the split EP with Agathocles), but the drums and the voice are way more noisy and chaotic than back then. The result is an amazing mix of almost hypnotic riffing and an amazing whirlwind of noise, crashes, screams, grunts and so on. Vocals are surely a great feature in these songs, showing a lot of variety and dynamism. This is surely a great addition to Disleksick’s discography and a great pairing with the A-side.
Great split, only 300 copies made, grab it!

[Thanks to Ben Viele (Gorgonized Dorks / Agromosh) for the records and to Marty Jerk Off Records who wanted to send me the split with Maximum Thrash with other releases of his label but Ben already sent me a copy!]