Rating: 7.9

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1. Krossad
2. Nersparkad (Igen)
3. Haveri [mp3]
4. Status
5. Välfärd/Likfärd
6. Tidsinställd Kollaps
7. Situation Stockholm. Kapitel 2
8. Stackars Generation
9. Landets Blinda Undergång
10. Tack Och Adjö
11. En Plats För Alla "Stundens Chockerande Intryck" Demo
12. När Allt Spårar Ur
13. Illustrerad Djävulskap
14. SS (Smarta Snubbar)
15. Vidriga Skam
16. Uppdrag: Bakhåll
17. Slutet Spelar Roll
18. Den Sista Jakten

Splitter - En Sorglig Historia

Fredrik Thalberg: Vocals
Thimmy Brodén: Guitar
Niklas Holm: Guitar
Fredrik Holmqvist: Bass
Oskar Pihl Hedberg: Drums

Gosh! It's been a fair ol' while since my head has jerked round during the opening crossed-out notes of a Grindcore record, looking at the speakers in astonishment whilst uttering some sort of flabbergasted expletive! The initial bombardment of 'En Sorglig Historia' had me spluttering something along the lines of 'shitting crikey!' or 'twatting heck!' as my eardrums were reduced to a pinkish liquid that drooled out onto my sleeve, and rightly so.

Splitter originate from Sweden, a country that steadily purveys ultra-boisterous, ridiculously raucous Migrainegrind. I'm not sure why Grind musicians from this part of Scandinavia deal in such excessive blast, light-speed performance and larynx-lacerating screaming; perhaps it's borne from their infuriation with fellow Swedes who insist on composing sweet but oxymoronical Melodic Death Metal. The sound probably ignites a ferocious beast within the scene, fuming as it protects its territory from any predators attempting to hijack the Grind and inject it with the same toxins of melodious sentiment. However, I think it's more likely that their sheer fury stems directly from their strong-minded, socio-political viewpoints, of which Splitter have plenty. I daresay that I know a lot more about music than politics; therefore I can't pass any kind of erudite judgment on the lyrical content. Of course, the whole thing is in Swedish, so I would've been a bit buggered anyway, but the band have kindly given a brief summary in English at the end of each song in the lyric-sleeve. I found these rather insightful and interesting and they at least gave me something to keep my brain oxygenated whilst the songs themselves set about scrambling it into gummy pulp.

With 'En Sorglig Historia', the Splitter thinkers have created an incessant onslaught of purest Grind, delivered with a quite terrifying conviction to generate a severe, menacing atmosphere. Overheated guitars publish ream after ream of head-squashin' Grindmachine-code, covered in splots of corrosive toner leakage from the screaming, steaming print-head, ring-bound by indefatigable blasting then roughly laminated with sheets of sheer rancour. The result is a ragged manual containing full instructions on how to write stringent, deafening Grindcore, performing it in such a way that it has optimal, cranium-crunching results with every use, adding an absorbing pullout current-affair pamphlet to emphasise the point of the unmusical violence therein. The vokills were obviously piped straight in from the nodular, cherry-red laryngeal muscle, leaving the microphone pop-shield matted with gelatinous strands of torn vokill cord and the studio walls bespattered with bloodied saliva, due to the raging vim with which they were performed.

How does one convey in words the sort of auditory-hostility that a reader should expect from 'En Sorglig.' should they be considering its purchase? Well, imagine antique, dust-covered Nasum with its chuggity mosh-parts all amputated, the remaining slamless trunk of frenzied, trebly bluster then magnified many times, the band stretching taut a few patches of old skin from 'Soul Scars' by Disfear over the jutting bones of the serrated structures. A few epidermal chunks of other bands with the 'dis' prefix in their moniker have also been grafted onto the hulkin', ganglin' sculpture, such as accelerated bits of Disgust (UK) with whom they share not the same Crusty sound; but more the same focused and uncompromising attitude, plus a couple of utterly malformed, sped-up slivers of Disgust sprinkled on top. The production is similar to what could've been expected from Relapse-grind of about six or eight years ago, in that it is quite clear enough to digest but still thoroughly scything, capturing the concentrated aggression of the band instead of smothering it with lo-fi DIY (no)desk ethics, or turning it into a pissy cordial with too much sheen. The same can't really be said for the bonus tracks from an earlier Splitter release, 'Stundens Chockerande Intryck', which is hampered by perhaps a bit too much level disparity and cloggy grain. Nevertheless, the demo is a worthy addition to the album, providing another bit of interest at the end.

So there you have it. Splitter is definitely a must for hardened Grind listeners who find pleasure in a flurry of crushing clouts right from the first blast, sustained all the way through to the final track, whereupon their disheveled ears breathe a gasping sigh of relief. If the blood that usually dribbles down your lobes has temporarily coagulated, then this is for you. The OBP press release puts it better than I ever could - ''We all Grindcore fanatics are to screw our heads off!!! Aaarrggh!!!''

June 22nd, 2006