Army of Flying Robots/Taint "Champion Boar Service" 7"
[SuperFi]
This split sees the pairing of two solid UK acts for a little under 15 minutes of material. Army of Flying Robots takes side A with two tracks of extremely caustic grind/metallic hardcore with cackled vocal screams over blasting speeds with dissonant, noisy guitar work that retains a sense of control and hits on a couple of thick and in your face hardcore chord progressions on occasion. "Explanation" is initially slower and more spacious than the relentless speeds of "In the Shadow of Swine", but its chunkiness is definitely contrasted by some extreme blasts as well, despite closing with an intense surge of melody and a quaint piano outro. Nicely done. The only thing that's holding this material back is the recording, which gives the vocals too much prominence in the mix and suffers from a muddy sound that lacks detail, so I'd definitely like to hear them get a little more brightness and definition in there as well as pulling the vocals back in against the music. The break of pulsing bass and clean guitars in "Explanation" actually sounds pretty damn good (and this unexpected melodic twist is actually a major beacon of potential), so they're on the right track, but a greater sense of balance could make an enormous difference. Lyrically both of the tracks deal with greed and power as they pertain to the wealthy: "And so the pigs have taken over the farm, soon they'll roast on spite, you'll reap what you sow." Taint follows on side B with one track ("I'm Going to Kill Henry Ford") that marks a significant contrast to Army of Flying Robots with killer, sludgy midpaced rock riffs and surges of chunky rhythmic dissonance and melodic post-hardcore textures backing shouted vocals for a damn nice little tune. Their production values are pretty damn solid as well, perfectly balancing the guitars and basslines, and with crisp yet resonant percussion that sounds totally natural. Again I think the vocals are a touch loud here, and on occasion the guitars can lose clarity, but they're damn close to being dead on with these tones, and once they nail it I'll be really psyched, because this track marks a definite step forward for the band's songwriting. The bulk of the track is instrumental, but the lyrics are fittingly open for interpretation nonetheless, despite hinting at socio-political commentary: "The intravenous sedative wreaks havoc, Today's heroes are tomorrow's parodies, I never knew it would get this far, Today's heroes are tomorrow's tragedies..." The record is pressed on marbled gray vinyl and comes in a full color gatefold sleeve with lots of intricate designs and imagery relating to the title and lyrical themes of the songs. All in all this is a nice little split, though Taint inches ahead for me and certainly leaves me wanting to hear more! (7/10)
Running time - 13:00 (approximately), Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: Explanation, I'm Going to Kill Henry Ford]
SuperFi Records - http://www.superfirecords.co.uk

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