This disc contains a slew of tracks from this grinding hardcore/punk duo, some of which are advance tracks from future releases, while the others are taken from compilations, demos, and vinyl. Included are the "Farewell" and "Life's Flame" EP's, the never released split LP with Sivillimurha, the one-sided "We Are the Swank Black Doves" EP, a few cover songs, and the band's three demos. At the end of the disc are a handful of tracks from these guys' other band Coprophagics (from the split 7" with Volume Four). The cover songs are "7 Up" by Fear of God and a much shortened take on "Avalanche Master Song" by Godflesh (recognizable only by the intro riff). The overall style is basically totally raw hardcore/punk with a grinding sort of crossover edge. The tones are totally rugged, the vocals gruff, and the songs short. It's not bad, but it's not great either. I kind of like the gruffness of the vocals, but they don't fit the music in my opinion. The music is almost more "lighthearted" in some ways, definitely honing in on its punk influences, whereas the vocals are burlier and would be more at home with something heavier or more violent in my opinion. A number of the tracks have a more distorted, raspy sort of scream, and that definitely works better. I have no preference as to whether or not their music goes in either the more hardcore/crossover direction or a faster grindcore sort of style, but to be honest with you very few of these songs catch my attention at all. It's nothing that really makes me take an active dislike of what's going on, but it definitely sort of plays on through without me feeling like I care about it. I can live with the totally rugged recording, it sort of fits with the whole D.I.Y. duo sort of thing for this type of music. Of course it would be insane not to point out that a clearer sound could indeed help these tracks (especially more promising numbers like "Armageddon Ace"), but the songwriting is what needs to take a real step up to something a bit more memorable or forceful. Some of the (what I assume to be) older tracks are definitely hard to listen to as far as excess treble and dirtiness, but that's life. The CD-R comes wrapped in a folded piece of paper with one square of oddball artwork (a Japanese "Power Ranger" looking girl or something) that also includes the tracklist. That's it, but this is really just a sampler, not a true release, so that's cool. If the thing's actually being well circulated they should take the time to include all of the song titles and maybe provide a bit more detail, but if not, fuck it I guess. That's about all I can say for this! Maybe I'd feel slightly differently experiencing it in smaller doses on a 7" or a split? Who knows!?
[self-released]
Running time - 57:14, Tracks: 28+
[Notable tracks: I couldn't really tell you, a lot of the track names aren't included and very few of the ones that are actually make me take notice]
Cthuwulf - http://www.geocities.com/cthuwulfnoise/
