Rating: 7.7 Release Date: 2006 Record Label: Obscene Productions Track list: |
Exhumed/Ingrowing Split -
Something Sickened This Way Comes/To Clone and Enforce
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Exhumed are: |
Ingrowing are: Vlakin - Bass, grunts & yells |
How cute! American Gore Metal versus Czech Grindcore on a handy, pocket-sized 3 inch CD! Usually, I'm not such a huge fan of ultra-short, novelty releases, but I must say I did enjoy this, despite it being so concise. It's an Obscene product, so you know you're more or less guaranteed quality despite the minimal quantity. I haven't had the pleasure of hearing the opening band since their classick 'Gore Metal' release from six or eight years ago, so their petite play-surface portion served as a miniature kick up the arse with regard to stanching the gaping wounds in my Exhumed collection. As for Ingrowing, I was lucky enough to review their brand new 'To Clone and Enforce' album a few weeks ago, so I had a good idea of what to expect from the subsequent sector of the split.
I think I'll approach each band in the order in which they appear. First of all, Exhumed proffer two original pieces, followed by a cover version of the much-loved Napalm Death number, "Life?" Their own compositions are enormously boisterous, with bonesaw riffs, expeditious blast-beat skullcrush and derisive, chyme-spitting vokills. The guitarists manage to crowbar in a few retrogressive solo-boils amid the pus-turgid carbuncles, aggrevating the already livid furuncle formation. Despite being fleetin' lil' ditties, their Liverpudlian Goregrind influence is obvious, with each successive snare hit and every succeeding suppurated snarl serving as a swift nod in the Carcass direction. If you add a putrid soupçon of Repulsion and a sprinklin' of some of the more cartoonish acts from the Razorback Records school of rot, you're at least halfway there. The vokills follow the time-honoured pattern of gruff gut-lows twinned with grimacing highs, though the latter seem ever so slightly different to those of previous Exhumed, sounding similar to the mocking vomits of Mr. Gore on the Gorerotted part of the 'Split Your Guts' release. The production reeks slightly of putrefaction, accessing the traditional garage-Gore values through healthy amounts of arid fuzz and granular fizz, remembering to reinforce that beloved bestiality with a weightier, modern-day edge. The Napalm Death cover is an entertaining addition, because the band ploughs through the 'Scum' staple with aplomb, duly daubing it with plenty of their signature splatter.
A brief but bludgeoning performance from Exhumed then, which is sure to tide their loyal fan base over until they unleash their next, fatter, canker-matter bespattered platter. Ingrowing wrap up the loose ends of the gangling arse-guts with, again, two of their own compositions alongside a cover version. Given that the former were written around the same time as their exceptional 'To Clone and Enforce' album, they sound very much the same as the invigorating torrents of ear canal abuse within that recording. To save you the massively detrimental exertion of labourious browser back-button clickery, I'll re-summarise the sound achieved by the band via the pair of songs submitted to this split, thus also partially re-recapitulating the overall sound of the latest Ingrowing album to which this album serves as a compact companion, through means of the enclosed infinitesimal reiterational summation-recurrment abstract.
Infinitesimal reiterational summation-recurrment abstract: Two thunderous, highly belligerent Grindcore odes with ample blasts, threatening riffs, caustic rhythms and enraged vokill revulsion. Seeing as they were clearly both recorded during the same merciless flurry of blastular enmity, there isn't much to distance 'To Clone and To Enforce' from 'Cloned and Enforced'. Except for the higher end of the vokill inventory, which here sounds a little less hysterical than on the full length, as well as being produced a bit lower in the mix. After those two hostile hymns, we're treated to a lovely cover of the timeless Goregrind anthem, "Total Dismemberment of a Female Corpse", from the essential Regurgitate document, 'Effortless Regurgitation'. The roaring low-end of the original is appropriately excoriated, leaving a jagged, ragged mass of minced debris, whilst still remaining sufficiently within the confines of the composition.
First-rate Gore Metal purulence from one, energetic Grindcore eruptions from the other, both captured upon a bijou 3'' CD. Given its short playing time, there's little for me to disapprove of during these six succinct songs, other than the factor that prevents me from executing said criticism in itself. In many respects, this creates a final rating quando-paradoxical obstacle, seeing as the negative aspect of the disc causes a near-neutralisation of the two conflicting features. However, if I were to stop typing such a lot of bollocks for a few sentences, you'd know that the CD is shorter than I would've liked, but its length stops me finding any fault in such a rousing, rambunctious release anyway. In short, the songs are good but a few more of 'em would've been nice.
August 6th, 2006
