KungFu Rick/The Ultimate Warriors "split" 7"
[Robotic Empire]
This split begins with KungFu Rick's "Sweet Social Setbacks": Offering plenty of changeups from chaotic and noisy metalcore to slow and pummeling sludge with a few straight hardcore chord progressions thrown in. There's some dual vocal action going on but I don't particularly see the need for it as both vocalists stay towards the high screaming range and sound similar to one another. I like the slower, heavier material better, but the vocals are sort of irritating and don't always fit the music. The diversity is cool though, especially during the brief clean break and the electronics that start/end the track. The Ultimate Warriors cram eight tracks onto their side, from wild and crazy technical metalcore with tons of dissonance to total death metal in short bursts. The vocals range from low growls to high screams and some insane cackling. There are lots of samples in between tracks, but a lot of this stuff is too chaotic for me. I especially hate the high vocals, but the band definitely has their moments. Both groups have raw recordings that work in their own contexts, but The Ultimate Warriors have slightly more clarity and that gives them an edge. Lyrically KungFu Rick keeps things nice and abstract: "Response set in proximity. Social ground born animosity..." The Ultimate Warriors on the other hand are totally goofy, amusing, but goofy... more often than not talking about wrestling and such. The layout also contains a lot of wrestling related imagery, but it looks pretty good, and the 7" is on marbled gray vinyl to boot. Both of these bands have their ups and downs and neither of them are exactly my thing, but I'd give the belt to The Ultimate Warriors if this were a match. (6/10)
Running time - 10:00 (approximately), Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Sweet Social Setbacks, Kids Need Clues, Johnny the Cat is Running, Out of Lives]
Robotic Empire - http://www.roboticempire.com

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