Here's another very good EP (their best yet that I've heard) from these Japanese madmen. The title track starts things off with some slow and pounding tempos and guttural vocal growls, eventually speeding up and adding in some of their insane cackling screams, but this is still heavier and darker than the "Mark a Muck" 7". There's a lot of emphasis on the rhythm section and far more forceful and interesting riffing. Next up are two covers: "Storm of Stress" by Terrorizer and "Middlesome Heart" by S.O.B. The latter track is fucking awesome, kicking some sweet midpaced tempos, pounding basslines, changeovers to blasting speeds... just fucking vicious. "Asu" is faster and a bit more dissonant on occasion, sort of more like straightforward grind than some of the other tracks. "Hip is the Main" is similar in that it's more straightforward, still mixing a lot of the somewhat annoying high vocals with the killer growls, but this time keeping the speeds faster throughout. "Holy Song for You" was recorded live and actually sounds not unlike their studio material, just with a lot more feedback! And then "Outro (Japanese Spoken Shits)" closes out with some melodic guitars twisting and turning in the background with some really dark and eerie riffing and (of course) spoken Japanese vocals over top. The production's not bad. It's raw and I definitely feel that the vocals (especially the high shrieks) are mixed too loud, but the bass tone is awesome and helps out a lot, and the drums sound fine. Sure, if the mix and everything was cleaner they'd sound better, but realistically I think that this is a good sound for them, all I would suggest would be to make the vocals rest back in with the music. The layout is all in black and white with some cool illustrations that seem more serious and politically motivated than the lyrical content. Inside is a band photo, the lyrics, and some other text, and the text sort of looks sloppy, but it's okay. The lyrics aren't as much about shit (literally) this time, but such topics still make an appearance: "This body is fact, It is long like goldfish's golden feces, What is your ass? What is Asu? Eyes see my shit, Real, Real, Reality." I must say, if you've only heard one of this band's releases and you didn't like it, don't let that sway you from checking out some of their other material, because this is a strong record.
[Power it Up]
Running time - 11:00 (approximately), Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: One Fun, Middlesome Heart, Holy Song for You (live), Outro (Japanese Spoken Shits)]
Bathtub Shitter - http://www.bathtubshitter.com
