(Andy Synn covers four excellent bands as part of today’s article)
So today I present you a split review for a pair of splits featuring two pairs of bands… but don’t worry if that sentence is already making your brains start to hurt, all you really need to know is that you’re about to hear some seriously heavy music.
And, in the end, isn’t that what we’re all here for?
DEADBODY/TRIBAL GAZE
The two bands sharing this split come at the Death Metal/Hardcore crossover from opposite directions – in Deadbody‘s case they make “Metallic Hardcore” where the “metallic” part draws from Death Metal and the ‘core comes more from the Grind end of the spectrum, whereas Tribal Gaze combine the classic Floridian swamp-stomp with some good ol’ New York knuckle-dragging (and if you haven’t heard their debut EP, Godless Voyage, or their killer first full-length, The Nine Choirs, yet then you’re missing out).
Surprisingly, even to me, it might just be Deadbody‘s side of the split which I’ve ended up loving the most – from the minute-long massacre that is “Six Shots Saved” and the devastating Death-Grind anthem of “Pleonexia” (which should win over even the most dedicated of doubters) to the chaotic “Horrors of the Reformed” and the crushingly climactic ground ‘n’ pound of “Dead Body II” – largely because the band’s neck-wrecking, gut-wrenching assault reminds me a lot of mid-2000s era Misery Index at their brutal best.
That’s not to say, however, that Tribal Gaze aren’t killing it here too (they remain, in my opinion at least, one of the best bands out of the latest wave of Death Metal/Hardcore hybrids) – as the gargantuan grooves of “Let His Servants Starve” and the buzzing tremolo hooks of “Burning Garden” clearly demonstrate – especially during third and final track, “Twitching on the Cross”, whose rampaging energy and ragged intensity remind you just why these guys are one of the absolute highlights of the current wave of Death/Hardcore hybrids.
SUNROT/BODY VOID
Released in honour of Trans Day of Remembrance, and with all digital proceeds being donated to Black Trans Liberation, the new Sunrot/Body Void split doesn’t mince its words or pull its punches, so if you’re looking for some seriously nasty Sludge-Doom that refuses to compromise on its sound or what it stands for… then this is the release for you.
Of the two sides of the split I’d say that Body Void‘s is definitely the stronger – mostly due to just how monstrous the doom-laden “Assimilation System” is, with its abrasive amalgam of suffocating sludge and sickening industrial effluent – but that doesn’t mean you should disregard Sunrot‘s caustic contributions either, especially the churning cauldron of bile and belligerence that is “Shapeshifter” whose visceral, venomous delivery cleverly conceals the fact that the song is, ultimately, an anthemic celebration of resistance and resilience.
Both bands also contribute some more drone-focussed material as well, and while this sort of thing isn’t always my particular cup of tea (not to be a stereotype, or anything) I will say that there’s something disturbingly effective about Sunrot‘s eerily hypnotic “Kill the Cop”, while the haunting darkness of Body Void‘s “Crown of Fire” honestly makes me wish that the latter group’s side of the split was even longer and more substantial (though, to be fair, I’m the type of person who always wants more Body Void).