This is the first full-length from these peculiar, shit obsessed Japanese grinders on their own Shit Jam Records label. This is probably more direct than some of the band's previous work, but there are still a ton of different influences at work. They've still got both the brutal low growls and crazy cackled screams going on, but musically the speeds are more moderately paced, at times blasting into faster territory, and I hear a lot more of a thrash metal influence to some of the rhythms, especially in tracks like "Control of Own Hole". "Fireworks" mixes up the tempos very nicely, jumping from a slower and almost sludgy chord progression to some excellent speeds that bring in a lot of classic grindcore elements. And check out the raging death metal picking patterns in "Be Shatter Proof"!? They even cover "No Stayer" by Witchfinder General, which took me by surprise (especially the chaotic solos). The title track is a clean instrumental that's played with a classical sort of style. It's unusual, I'm not sure it fits, and I'm unsure as to what they're going for, but were it played smoother and with a better clean tone I think it could be awesome - the melodies are definitely nice. The recording is pretty good, better than some of their 7"'s that I've heard, but it still needs work. The biggest problem is that the vocals are too loud, but the bass tone (which is actually pretty good) really gets lost, so there's a major gap in the end product that leaves things sounding too thin and almost unfinished to a degree. The drums are also unbalanced, so even though they're clear, certain drums have more density than others, which can sound strange. A part of me definitely wishes the band would only use the lower vocals, because with a thicker sound and none of the high shrieks this could be incredible... but they're still on the right track. The presentation is really simple. You've got a demon type thing sitting on a toilet on the cover, a band photo on the back of the booklet, and the rest is basically text, including all of the lyrics. Everything looks slightly pixilated, but to a tolerable degree, so even though things could look better, it works out. As usual the lyrics are all basically about shitting on some level, but they sort of take a message (be it regarding consumerism, etc.) and somehow twist it around to involve the act of shitting. It's pretty wild stuff. I've definitely grown to enjoy this band more with time, but they've yet to unleash their true potential. A lot of the riffs on this disc are a lot tighter and more interesting than what they've done in the past, though. So despite a few minor shortcomings I'd guess that the material herein is pointing towards an interesting future.
[Shit Jam]
Running time - 37:50, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Control of Own Hole, Fireworks, Be Shatter Proof]
Bathtub Shitter - http://www.bathtubshitter.com
