Review: Split In Two – Two Modern Grindcore Compilations Reviewed
Split In Two – Two Modern Grindcore Compilations Reviewed
In my view, grindcore has always been the nastier, raunchier cousin of death metal; if death metal is a cave troll, grindcore is one of those goblins out of the mines of Moria. Born out of hardcore and crust punk, grindcore was to metal as no wave was to punk, a kind of anti-music focused on creating the musical equivalent of a train wreck. The genre stripped back the thin veneer of societal convention to expose the ugly rot beneath it all, whether it was in the political tirades of Napalm Death, the schlock violence of Repulsion, or Carcass’ focus on gore as a commentary on the reality of death and processes of bodily decay. The Christian music scene largely lagged behind from what I can tell, perhaps because of the pushback still being given to death metal bands like Mortification and Lament (who both suffered from having their album covers censored). However, grindcore as a sound still found a place in the Christian metal world with bands like Vomitorial Corpulence, Rehumanize, Eternal Mystery, and Flactorophia. Bands like these took grindcore’s emphasis on social and political commentary and approached the same issues from a Christian perspective, often offering harsh but perhaps necessary rebukes of hypocrisy and greed within their own Christian communities, and even focusing on spiritual warfare.
While many of these acts released standalone albums, often many Christian grind bands released their sonic assaults on splits. Though the defunct Sewersound release entitled 4-Way Noise Explosion remains a definitive classic in my mind, two others have stood out to me amongst the ones I’ve come across: 4-Way Grind Split released by Christian Metal Underground (Vision of God Records) from 2018 and Christian Grindcore – The Slaughtered Lamb Split released by Christian Grind Records in 2015.
Christian Grindcore – The Slaughtered Lamb Split
(Christian Grind Records)
Think big. Christian Grind Records’ The Slaughtered Lamb Split offering boasts a whopping 60+ tracks by 8 different artists that span a huge variety of styles under the grindcore umbrella. Ambitious? Just a little. But with its fantastic cover art and gigantic tracklist, I had to bite. The result? Like all musical buffets of this nature, a very mixed bag.
First off, the compilation begins with a track featuring all of the artists howling and gurgling all at once over a rather muted, hyper-processed guitar. You get a taste of what you’re in for, but it’s a bit of a mess. The different styles and approaches heard on this record vary as wildly as the quality of the music itself. You get the good, but you also get the mid to the downright bizarre.
Flesh Incineration opens the compilation strong with some very heavy death/grind loaded with some pretty convicting lyrics that take on spiritual hypocrisy and the like in a big way. It’s chaotic, guttural, and everything that good death/grind should be, though it never descends into ultra brutal territory. Cleric keeps things fairly conventional with some Barney-era Napalm Death influences sprinkled in (though I still hear some deathcore on this, oddly), and though it dials the intensity back a little after Flesh Incineration, it’s solid stuff. Swinery, on the other hand, throws every pig squeal and guttural at the wall in hopes that something will stick on its opening track, and ends up sounding like a slammier, deathcore-ish version of Pig Destroyer. No subtlety here in the least. Deophobic Necrosis, obviously big fans of 80’s Carcass, do a very interesting take on goregrind’s emphasis on pitch-shifted vocals and overall ugliness by taking their inspiration from and drawing attention to the suffering of Christians who are persecuted across the world (see the album cover of their release, Persecution). Right-Wing Conspiracy sounds more like a skate punk band with raspy vocals until the occasional blastbeats kick in, but the production seems far too slick-sounding for the genre.
Now for the bizarre. If you thought the duo behind Corpse Under Construction was outlandish, wait ’til you get a load of Amelioration, Hell Bovine, and Reconstructed Carcass. If you’ve never heard of cybergrind or knew it was even a thing, well…prepare yourself for something completely different with Amelioration. Like some lost dubstep tracks from 2010 that mutated, Amelioration offers up garbled vocals over ridiculously fast drum machine pulsing and dubstep breakdowns. Saying it’s not for everyone is the understatement of the century. But there’s something about it that makes me think it still fits on here, if only as a curiosity. “Restorification” is easily the highlight track, a dubstep/grind mash-up that sounds like nothing else out there that I’ve ever heard.Unfortunately, things really, really go downhill from there into the furthest nether regions of what could even be considered music, let alone grindcore. I’m not entirely sure what the deal is with Hell Bovine, a mash-up of out-of-time drums, comical synths, pig squeals and noise. Obviously, it’s meant to be a humorous project, but the joke just falls flat for me. But if you really want to hit the bottom of the iceberg and reach the furthest frontiers of grindcore extremity, well, you can fill your boots with Reconstructed Carcass. To say this is extreme is like saying it’s mildly irritating to break a leg. Each track varies in volume level and “production quality” so that you’ll be cranking the volume one second and frantically trying to turn it down the next. Each “song” is little more than a drum machine going at ludicrous speeds, with horrifying vocals that sound like a combination of a toilet flushing in slow motion combined with the sound of a tree being dragged across a tin roof. This is way beyond anti-music. This is something else entirely.
Overall, The Slaughtered Lamb Split is a decent Christian grind compilation, but suffers somewhat because of its uneven nature. It is certainly ambitious, and it’s awesome to see the wild variety of styles on here, but not all of it works. That said, taken for what it is (a giant grind buffet), it’s quite the ride provided you are able to navigate the kaleidoscope of noise.
4-Way Grind Split (Christian Metal Underground)
Far more concise in nature than the beast above, 4-Way Grind Split is about the length of an early Napalm Death album at 22 tracks. The cover art on this one is at once disturbing, horrifying even, a depiction of the suffering Christ crucified that gives an image of complete abandonment, the darkest moments of Christ’s Passion encapsulated. I’m not sure who the artist is for the cover, but the back cover’s use of one of Matthias Grunewald’s paintings of the crucifixion surely served as some inspiration.
From the get-go, this compilation obviously went for a far less experimental, everything but (or perhaps including) the kitchen sink approach heard on The Slaughtered Lamb Split and instead opts for straight-up fury. I’m not sure that some of the music on here is pure grind in the classic sense, but be assured that it’s all aiming to be as rank as possible. Two of the bands on here feature musicians from other more well-known Christian acts in the underground – Abandoned Mortuary is a side-project of Gergely Kovács of black metal act Irgalom, and Wise As Serpents grew out of supreme underground death metal band Disencumbrance.
Abandoned Mortuary is the first in line with but two tracks of fairly classic grind that reminds me a little of The Right-Wing Conspiracy with a meatier, heavier, and more organic sound, alongside some Brutal Truth influence. It’s good stuff, but the recording volume is way too quiet for the music, and hurts the impact. Crank the volume on it, and you’ll be treated to some decently raw grind, however.
Unfortunately, like The Slaughtered Lamb Split, I think the “grind” term is stretched a little too far here with the choice to include Brazil’s Eternal After Death. I hate to be the nitpicker, but Eternal After Death sounds like a brutal deathcore band to me with some bits of grind thrown in. It’s really good for the style, I’m just not sure it entirely fits on a grindcore compilation. Still, if you’re down with the sounds of Voluntary Mortification, old Suicide Silence, new With Blood Comes Cleansing and the like, you’ll dig it. If you’re not huge on it, don’t worry – Wise as Serpents brings the grind roaring back. Nasty, dark, and replete with interjected samples of war, urban chaos, and disconcerting soundbites, it picks up where bands like Encryptor left off, sitting comfortably alongside bands like Dying Fetus and Flesh Incineration (notably loaded with the social commentary of the latter). Fans of brutal grind, rejoice.
The best, however, is saved for last with the musically shape-shifting band known as Timoratus. A husband and wife duo, by and large, the band has covered almost every extreme metal style imaginable, even descending into similar comedic parody territory as Norway’s Luteoks. Here, Timoratus go full Pig Destroyer and absolutely nail it. Courtney Napier’s screams are intense enough to strip several layers of skin off the listener, and are frankly some of the best grind vocals I’ve ever heard. The music hits levels of such blistering intensity that you’d swear your speakers were starting to smoke, and yet somehow the music doesn’t exhaust me. It hits like Nails, but sears like Long Suffering, Pig Destroyer and Nasum. Amazing.
Of the two compilations, if variety is what you’re looking for, The Slaughtered Lamb Split has you covered with almost every style of grind under the sun; it’s just that not all of it is of the same quality. Such is the nature of compilations like this, and frankly, such is the fun of it, too. I have a major soft spot for it, and have loved listening to it ever since I bought it, even in spite of how bizarre it gets towards the end. But if you’re looking for a compilation with more immediate visceral impact, 4-Way Grind Split hits extremely hard in all the right ways thanks to its judicious selection of material. Either way, if grind is your thing, you’re well covered; it just depends if you want an all-you-can-eat buffet with a couple of odd selections or classic fine dining.
Check out The Slaughtered Lamb Split here: https://christiangrindrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-slaughtered-lamb-split
Check out the 4-Way Grind Split here: https://visionofgodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/christian-metal-underground-4-way-grind-split
About Author
