Six Reasons to Kill/Absidia "Morphology of Fear" split CD
[Bastardized]
Germany's Six Reasons to Kill open this split up with some noisy soundscapes that suddenly explode into some fucking raging material that totally took me by surprise, blending grindcore and death metal by fusing brutal growls and raging screams, lots of tempo changes, and some killer fucking riffs that are all feel - a rarity for this style. "Gates to Eternity" has some midpaced riffing reminiscent of classic European metalcore (chiefly the Belgian variety), "Drown in Frustration" is a bit moshier and almost groovy, but god damn is it ever awesome... I love it, these guys totally do it right. I'm talking churning, chugging fucking riffs... and a thick sound! The mix is tight, the tones are heavy and controlled... I have no real complaints. If they brought the vocals a smidge back in against the guitars and upped the bass tone ever so slightly it would pound even harder, but this sounds slick already. The lyrics are pretty pissed but do carry a message, taking the general routes against war, religion, etc. "War - demoralized population, mourn the victims, marching for your victory, Lost souls raise into the sky, War - taken by force they take the land..." In a similar surprise move, Absidia (also from Germany) opens with a three-minute dark piano intro that really does work shockingly well, then they jump over into some shredding death metalcore styled stuff with searing vocal screams, slightly raw tones, a bit of excess noise to the mix, and a few other nuances that really add to their intensity. I have to confess that a crisper recording would benefit this band a great deal, as I enjoy the sheer insanity of their tones, but some of the slower riffs would be absolutely impenetrable with a heavier, clearer guitar tone (the acoustics that close "No Longer Willing to Wither" sound fucking beautiful, though). The melodies have a Swedish tinge, but this is way more over the top than most of that style, and despite a wealth of tremolo picking I actually find the writing to be fucking killer. They definitely spice up the tempos and keep things moving. Lyrically these tracks are more abstract and seem to deal more with personal issues: "The inexhaustible source of distress grows every hour, every day. But will a leap in the dark heal the wounds or just be the downfall of life?" The layout is very consistently arranged with imagery of skulls and strange facial masks along with band photos and lots of faint brown textures. Each side of the booklet folds out as well, which is a nice touch. I definitely think it looks pretty good. This is a wicked split. Definitely good stuff. I'd toss it an 8/10 no question if Absidia's recording was a tad more in line. I want to hear more from both of these bands ASAP. Recommended. (7/10)
Running time - 29:26, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: War, Drown in Frustration, No Longer Willing to Wither]
Bastardized Recordings - http://www.bastardizedrecordings.de

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