Bathtub Shitter "97 + 3 Shit Points" 7"
[Power it Up]
Holy shit! I really wasn't into their "Mark a Muck" 7" at all, but this is fucking great! The songs are heavier and a bit more along the lines of straightforward grindcore, balancing speed with slower breaks, a heavier sound, stronger riffing, more use of the lower vocal growls, and the high vocals aren't as painful either. I'm pretty surprised here. "All Pants Know" contains tons of blasting tempos with the occasional appearance of an unexpected set of dissonant chords; and "Brown Bomb in 99" is a raging grind classic, complete with excellent tempo changes, forceful arrangements, a nice balance of vocal styles, etc. That pretty much sets the standard for this EP. The recording's not bad. Things are pretty thick and heavy, and the mix is fairly balanced. The drumming sounds natural, the guitars are heavy but raw, you can make out the bass, and the vocals are barely in front of the music. I don't have any real issues with the sound. The ruggedness is expected and it works for 'em. The only thing I don't really like is the layout. The record comes in a blue sleeve with some black and white illustrations, but it just looks really plain. Then inside is a black and white insert with an illustration of the band playing in the background and the lyrics printed over top, but it looks really pixilated and sloppy, unfortunately. You'd never guess from looking at this record that the songs are as rock hard as they actually are. Once again the lyrics tend to focus on "fecal matters", though sometimes they seem to use shit (literally) as a metaphor for things that are fucked up about life... though I must admit that sometimes it's damn hard to tell what's going on! "Never forget rainy sandbox, What is war? Is it shit? Come home covered with mud, What is war? Is it shit? Bakurethu, Great, Bakudan, Brown bomb." It looks like I was mistaken when I decided that I didn't really like this band based on that one 7"... because this is so much better. (6/10)
Running time - 12:00 (approximately), Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Holy Song for You, All Pants Know, Brown Bomb in 99]
Bathtub Shitter - http://www.bathtubshitter.com

This review has been displayed 2146 times.