Artimus Pyle/Diallo "split" 7"
[Busted Heads]
Holy shit... I had never heard Artimus Pyle (San Francisco) before for some reason, only heard of them, but this is great stuff. Two tracks of pummeling hardcore that ranges from plodding and destructive heaviness to grinding speed in the blink of an eye. There are lots of slower passages that have a doomy sort of feel, but then they'll fly off the handle into a crazy fast and almost chaotic burst of speed, but they never let go, they always keep it under control. The vocals range from relentless screams to some straight shouting, and it works great against the music. Good production, too. It's heavy as fuck without being polished, the awesome bass presence adds to their overall force by throwing in tons of low-end, they've got natural drum tones, a tight mix... everything you need. The lyrics are concise, bitter attacks on the state of the world in the socio-political sense: "...oppression opportunity never mind the price executive boards and the bottom lines enable the death of millions profit profit never mind the price to the investors go the spoils of war the true winners are the financiers." Diallo (Connecticut) also throws out two tracks of similar material, though slower and far heavier, with throaty midrange vocal screams and more of a metal influence in a Black Sabbath sort of way. They do speed things up at times, even using some shouting vocals, but it's the destructive slow passages that really make this band something special. I'm also really into their very subtle uses of melodic dissonance. This is just fucking awesome. Another awesome recording graces these songs, with an amazing bass tone, thick drums (not to mention killer drum fills), heavy guitars that are full of texture, and a good placement of vocals in the mix. Damn fine work. Both of these bands are crushing and should be checked out. I think Diallo has since broken up, which is a huge fucking shame, but I'll be tracking down other works by both of these bands in the near future. (8/10)
Running time - 9:00 (approximately), Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Dirty Laundry, Sudden Movements, and the other two as well]
Busted Heads - http://www.bustedheads.com

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