Appropriately enough this Canadian unit opens the disc with some disco related samples before plowing into some totally raw and filthy grindcore using a drum machine. Expect a shitload of speed, raging vocal screams, samples, a few glitchy cutups and stuttered electronic types of elements, etc. The riffing is actually tight as fuck, and it sounds like there's a lot of good shit happening, from subtly melodic leads and slower hardcore/punk chord progressions to insane high-speed fury. But the chief problem is that the recording is a little too noisy to let the details shine through. The drum machine is of course really rigid and thin, but it's not so bad, I feel that it's handled well and the electronic sounding percussion fits in with some of the other noise influences and samples. However, the vocals and guitars sound really thin, and I'm not sure if there's always bass in there or not. It sounds alright, but it's not crunchy enough, and there's definitely a lot getting lost. The only other thing I find mildly bothersome is the way that some of the songs are structured - with breaks where samples take over and then the music kicks back in, etc. - which sort of hurts the continuity and makes it feel like there's more than one song in each track. I like how "The Burning Side" slows it down with some clean guitars and really works at integrating the samples into the music, getting a lot heavier and more powerful midway through with some twisted harmonies and crunchy chords. They cover the Dayglo Abortions' "Proud to be a Canadian" as well, but you'd never really know it were it not for the title/credits. Visually everything looks cool. All of the printing is done on matte gray paper in black and red, and instead of lyrics there's a weird little blurb about disco and zombies, with an illustration of a zombie disco dancing and stuff. Bizarre. Song titles like "Ninja Sweater" and "Disco Rage" leave me with little clue as to what's going on with the lyrics, other than a sense of humor being involved. I like a good deal of this, it's pretty creative for what it is, it's not the same old thing that all of these types of bands are doing by any means. But I definitely feel that a better recording is necessary for the songs to really prove themselves.
[Black Hole]
Running time - 30:12, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Whisper Dependency, The Burning Side, Perpetrator]
Black Hole Productions - http://www.blackholemag.com/bhp/
