Limbs Bin/Sidetracked - Split cassette

The cancerous infection of harsh electronics and experimentation in the grindy world is spreading deep. Now showing up from the fastcore lords of Washington, Sidetracked. Jay's incredibly heavy output coalesceing with Josh Landes/Limbs Bin mission to be the king of splits. Tons of release from both of these artists, they've all been great to just incredible, and them teaming up for a tape is just too much to handle. Sure to be another beautiful package from Josh's own label Follow Me Into The Laser Eye. Limbs Bin open up with another dated track, "Fourth of July 2014". This ladies and gentlemen, is some of the harshest stuff he's created since "Total Anguish". I'm definitely dubbing it his "gorenoise moment", but done completely Limbs Bin. Raging for a beautiful 2 minutes, this side is total chaotic, cathartic brutality. Brown noise walls of bass drums, echoing layers of screeching vocals and noise box abuse. It's a steady assault of impenetrable noise with those devastating drum machine bursts. There's a particularlly wonderful part in the middle where the reverbed synth noises and the vocals match up in the best way, total ear candy. Teaming up with Sidetracked is an obviously exciting partnership, and it's one where I really didn't know what to expect from Jay and the band. Sidetracked has never really been a group to experiment with noise, outside of arguably the the rougher recording quality they've used through the years. I really loved the few tracks posted from the noise-ridden "Abandon" EP, so I was hoping it would be some weird, Sissy Spacek-ish noisecore. Listening to it over and over, I am, sadly a bit disappointed with their side here. Another on-the-money two minute mini-opus of 10 drum and vocal bursts (aka Sidetracked songs). All held together by a hypnotic, sliding guitar drone. It is definitely something meant to be listened to as one piece, trying to pick each song apart would just end up adding unwanted effort. Each drum stab is a different fill or beat, staying away from just doing obvious blasts. Jay's trademarked one-lyric punctuations are basically the sole lyrical effort you'll get here. As the piece goes one, both drums and vocals stick around longer and longer. Finishing off with a 3 second hardcore beat and silence. Not what I would call the most enjoyable effort from Sidetracked, but to their credit, "Abandon" does sound incredible so far. I am eager to see what the final product of that will be. The tape will be out in May, in limited quantities, and can be purchased from Follow Me Into The Laser Eye or the Limbs Bin bandcamp.

~VII

Detroit/thedowngoing - Split Cassette Review

Man, what an awesome split. Can we give a collective round of applause to the always on point Hygiene Records, for throwing down the dough for this excellent pairing of two super overlooked bands? Starting off with Detroit. A rawasfuk, grinding fastcore trio from Canada that's as mean and intense as the city they're named after. These guys have always had a pretty solid and consistent output of quality tunes, and their side is no different. This time going for more of a straight-up fastcore style then usual, with tons of Spazz-ish barks and going to almost Quattro Stagioni tempos. It's a pretty unrelenting assault, made all the more powerful by the screeching, clanging, grinding-sheet-metal guitar tone and machine gun snare hits. No faults here with Detroit's side, at all. And what an excellent return for Australia's best noisy grinders, thedowngoing! Though I will say that if you're going in expecting the same kind of sound they had on "ATHOUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS" or their split with Water Torture, you might be a little disappointed. The recording here is much more clean and polished, and they've done away with pretty much any vocal effects. Something that would normally spell disaster for a band who have stuck with a certain sound for basically their whole existence. But you know, to me, it isn't even an issue. Because thedowngoing are still writing some tremendous riffs and songs, no matter how smothered in noise they may or may not be. They take the discordant style of grinding and make it all their own, which is something I've always given them props for. Thedowngoing actually create captivating and powerful songs, instead of just taking the usual "noisegrind piss". Which is still great, and a style that I very much like as well, but they surpass it. Creating a sound that has me clinging to each second their side plays. I love this split. Stream it down below!

Pick up a copy of the tape over at Hygiene Records: HERE

~VII