INTHESHIT/Priapus - Split Review

I had heard of this splits inception quite a while ago, and I was worried that It would never see the light of day. Mostly due to Give Praise Record's (the label responsible for this release) recent interesting and almost complete 180 from releasing grind/fastcore, to putting out mostly weird thrash and oversea's punk rawk this last year. I was beginning to think that one of my favorite labels would never be the same again, and even more unfortunately, that the records that I had heard were coming out would never see the light of day. Thankfully, you can't keep this kind of grind down, and Give Praise is back on track and the fabled INTHESHIT/Priapus split is finally released. Boston's INTHESHIT are a group that I honestly haven't heard much from since I got their "King Of The Grindcore Jungle" tape back in 2012 or something. Three songs this time around, and my first time hearing their new singer. Who replaced the Jon Chang-esque vocals of "KotGJ" with more of a tuff, Ion Dissonance/Lack of Interest style. In a state who's biggest musical export right now seems to be unapologetic 80's/90's worshipping hardcore, it's not hard to see why this kind of delivery permeated the group. INTHESHIT have a massive sound on here, churning waves of guitars riffs and booming drums tumble and stampede over each other all over their side. It's a frenzied, flurried 3-song helping of punishing grind, but unfortunately they never seem to quite lock in together as a unit on here. Outside of a few slower breakdowns, the rest of this just sounds loose and not together. Not in a very charming way either. You know when you accidentally play a 45 RPM record at 33 RPM and the music sounds sort of bloated and stretched, it's kind of like that. It's not outright unenjoyable, but not something I can see myself returning too very often. Which makes the technical brutality of Priapus's 2-song contribution all the more explosive. Priapus, as you all should already know, are one of the most underrated grindcore bands going at this very moment. Some of the best stuff I label "tech-grind" around; crushingly heavy, tight, expertly recorded and mastered, and with Maruta, Pig Destroyer and Malignancy influences displayed proudly on their sleeves. OG actually debuted the opening track from their side "Adversus", on our site a while ago, and it's as awesome a track now as it was back then. Mach 3 gravity blasts and matching guitar noodling with a crushing, groovy breakdown riff towards the end, and some very nice vocal variations. The next track, "Failure Addict", and almost 3 minute riff machine track, full of colorful harmonics, and double bass that makes a jackhammer seem slow. Priapus are a great band for this kind of style, mainly due to their great song craft and chemistry as players. With most grind like this, it just seems like a bunch of dudes just trying to right stupidly complex music. Priapus on the other hand, while still being incredibly technical, still makes their songs stick out. Every vocal "bleah!", growl or scream seems to be thought out, and the guitars and drums compliment each other the same way Brian and Scott did in Pig Destroyer. Each instrument grooves together and helps make the other more impactful. Rest assured, I won't be surprised with Willowtip or Relapse snatches them up. Listen to the whole split here and be sure to buy the vinyl at Give Praise Records.

Rating: 7.5/10

~VII

Exclusive Premier of A New Priapus Track, "Adversus"

Operation Grindcore is very happy to debut this brand-spanking new track from the North Carolina lords of tech-grind, Priapus. This new track, entitled "Adversus", will be joining another new track for an upcoming split 7" with INTHESHIT, which should actually be out very soon on the mighty Give Praise Records. There will also be a new shirt design, featuring the art above. But this track, do I really need to tell you it's good? Anyone with a brainstem should know that anything Priapus grinds out is pure win. Riffs that crunch, squeal, skronk, screech, and chug come at you a mile a second, and the vocal and drum performances are equally impressive. Any local scene would be blessed to have a band like Priapus in their ranks. Stream the track below, and be sure to pick up the 7" when it comes out. 

~VII

Jungle Juice - "Involuntary Convulsions" Review

The mighty Give Praise Records is gearing up to release a plethora of new facegrinding records this season, hopefully most of which I'll hopefully be covering on here. One of the freshest faces in the upcoming roster is Jungle Juice, a hardcore band from little ol' Little Rock, Arkansas. Much like the alcoholic concoction of which they're named after, their new 8 song effort, "Involuntary Convulsions", is a mixed bag of stuff and things. On this EP you'll get a heavy serving of hardcore, 15 second powerviolence bursts, sludge, and...atmospheric acoustic interludes? Yeah, you heard me right. Don't flee in terror yet though, because Jungle Juice definitely do not dwell on un-abrasive characteristics like that. JJ know how do dish out the heavy jams, and they bring it to you raw (very raw). Though given that there is a lot of different influences on here, I am naturally left with some mixed feelings. First off, the guitar tone is excellent. Thick and chunky, just how I like it, and when the band busts into those Sabbath-y riffs, it's a beautiful thing. The hardcore stylings are great too; awesome breakdowns and hateful aggression. But there are some parts where I'm just left saying, "huh, why?". The shorter songs on here seem like they're in there just because they can be, and the guitar solos at the ends of the tracks, "Constant Decay" and "Human Limit" really just leave a bad taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, that means I have some issues with half the songs on here. Jungle Juice are a prime example of a band that could release something absolutely killer, if they just fleshed out and fine-tuned their sound a bit. But overall, I did enjoy this EP, and I'm eager to see what this band comes up with next.

Rating: 6.5/10

~VII

Hear Some New BrucexCampbell Songs!

Fuck yeah, new BrucexCampbell music for my ears! These new songs are for an upcoming split 7" with Line Up Your Lies, which I think is going to be released by Give Praise Records. Very excited for this release, since BrucexCampbell know how to tear shit up down to a science. I just hope that they don't keep those ridiculously long pauses in between the songs. Check it out!

~VII

Hummingbird of Death/Titanarum - split Review

The gimmick with most modern, techy fastcore bands is to write the shortest songs with the spazziest song structure that they can. Some do it well(see Sidetracked), others just sound like a bunch of ADD freaks with guitars making jumbled messes of songs. So leave it to Hummingbird of Death to write two 5+ minute songs on their latest split with Titanarum. HOD have never been a band that just sticks within the comfort zones of the genre, opting instead to experiment and push it into territories that most don't dare to go, and they actually pull it off with great results. Usually a fastcore band that makes a six minute song goes the "sludgy" route for the sake of having a slow track. The welcome change here is that HOD haven't elongated these songs with repetitive sludge riffs. These songs are fast and furious the whole way through, but not spazzy and schizophrenic. It's like the usually ADD freaks took some chill pills and said to each other; "Hey guys, let's actually play some of these riffs for more than 2 measures". While also showing some black-metal-sounding chord progressions, some death metal vocals thrown in at one point, and some thrashy/crossover riffs.
On the flipside, the now disbanded Titanarum give us 8 tracks of fairly straight-forward fast hardcore. No songs are over 2 minutes, and they are all developed and display some pretty good songwriting with solid musicianship. I can definitely hear a lot of crossover influence in their sound. Particularly in the vocals, which are probably my favorite part of this band. They have so much personality and a decent amount of variety to them. I definitely get an Accused vibe from them. Very solid sides from both bands. You can pick this record up at Give Praise Records and stream it here. By the way; coolest album cover of the year? Debatable.

Rating: 8/10

~VII