First up on this live split CD-R is a 34-minute Goatsblood set recorded live on WNYU in October 2002.? The first thing that irritates me about it is that the set starts abruptly and sounds like the first bit of the first song was clipped off, so there's no introduction or anything.? There's also no tracklist for their set, which is frustrating since I'm a sucker for details.? Other than that it's a decent sounding performance of their brand of pummeling sludge with bits and pieces of grindcore thrown in, so expect lots of slow and pounding rhythms with a few blasting explosions, while the vocals shift from snarling high-pitched screams to burly shouts along the way.? The vocals are a little bit high in the mix, but for a live recording it does sound pretty damn good since you can hear all of the instruments and the end result is balanced enough to make for an enjoyable listen.? It's a little bit of a boring set since they just kind of play through and that's it.? They don't introduce any of the songs or stop or anything, which makes it somewhat bland since it obviously doesn't sound as effective or powerful as their studio work, and there's nothing aside from the character of the recording that makes it seem live, you know?? The second track is an 18-minute set from Suppression, recorded at Under the Couch in Atlanta during May 2002.? It also sounds surprisingly tolerable since I've seen this band live a number of times and they rarely sound very coherent at all.? It's not nearly as clear as the Goatsblood set, with drums dominating the mix and vocals drowning behind the instruments, but the drums sound good and the bass is present, so... it's listenable.? Included are seven tracks of frantic material driven by wild drum fills (complements of Darkest Hour's Ryan Parrish) and pulsing basslines with cackled vocals that often have heavy reverb effects going on.? It's not as noisy or acerbic as some of the band's past work, but it is indeed quirky and defiant of categorization.? Among the cuts are big "hits" like "Reach Out and Fuck Someone" and "Dickless in Heaven", so... enjoy.? The disc comes in a xeroxed sleeve with a basic layout.? Each band gets their own panel of artwork in the center spread and Goatsblood's half looks great, but the general aesthetic of the packaging is pretty shoddy and doesn't grab your attention at all.? I'm not sure how much this sells for but I actually think it's around $3 - $5 (including postage), which is a fair price for fans of these bands to pay.? Anything more would be unfair since the packaging isn't that hot and the sets are basically dropped onto the CD-R without any fades or cleanups to make the ends meet up a little better.? Bobby from Paranoize is a good guy, and very dedicated, so I'd trust that he's really fair with this stuff and I know he's doing it out of the love of the music.? With a little work this could've actually made for a nice proper release since the sound quality is so listenable.
[Paranoize]
Running time - 51:48, Tracks: 2
[Notable tracks: both sets sound pretty good]
Paranoize - http://www.geocities.com/paranoize/
