Everyone loves a good split. They’re basically a BOGOF. There are a bunch of good ones in the shit gilded halls of Grind My Gears this time around. I’

7 years ago

Everyone loves a good split. They’re basically a BOGOF. There are a bunch of good ones in the shit gilded halls of Grind My Gears this time around. I’m keeping the intro short this time around because I’m sick of the sound of my own voice in my head and I always do this last. Myspace is the gift that keeps on giving with fantastically shitty song titles and more, some other splits do cool stuff with music that falls into the grind category and then I do the shortest world tour of grind, ever. The You Suffer Global Grind Tour, if you must. Enjoy.

The new split from SeeYouSpaceCowboy and secondgradeknifefight makes Matt a very happy noise fiend. As outlandish and energetic as shit comes, SeeYouSpaceCowboy live somewhere in the freaky vacuum that MySpace grind left behind. The discordant ditties and psycho-funk breaks on “Stop Calling Us Screamo” are polished relics of the era, giving away to huge breakdowns with panic chords for days. The anarchic declarations and inward looking lyrics are as much a call to the past as they are the present. Splitting hairs and tight pants with violent gusto.

This half of the split stands out for me far more than the other, thanks to the zany splits and shifts between violently emotional rock music. It’s not screamo and it’s not really grind but it still fucking grinds. I keep drawing similarities with Animosity and Arsonists Get All The Girls in my head but as far as how close they are, who knows. I haven’t listened to either of them in a minute. I guess SxYxSxCx and sxgxkxfx are my versions of them.

Chalking up another cybergrind/violence/electronics entry for a solo roller, the secondgradeknifefight side of this split is intense. Seriously intense. It also has a sample from Scary Movie in it and that is very cool. Watched it last week. Init. A la GmG favourites Fucked and Throat Breach, the noise and distress comes from inhuman sounds, via dark noise manipulation and drum machine. My favourite track is the New Wave sweetheart track “glass vampires roam these darkened woods fellas (protek ya neck)”. My least favourite track title is the track “glass vampires roam these darkened woods fellas (protek ya neck)”. It’s something that Chino Moreno would do now, if he’d been a crust punk for awhile during college.

Several (tens of) levels down an auto-play I landed on a 2016 release from Endorphins Lost and it made me stop doing all the really, really important things I was doing. I put down the remote and spun up their latest, a split with fellow powerful violencers Osk. Every second of the split, between each act is squeezed full of ripping distortion and sputum. The guitars don’t sound like bee’s in distress when the d-beat kicks in and the nu old-school vocals hit the sweet spot between ultra pissed and prescient of the groove. Osk use their half to rip through dirty grind like a scabby knife through old cheese. It’s not pretty and it’s sour on the soul but what else are they going to do with their recorded time? This isn’t pop-punk, people! A close contender for Seriously Sick Split of the Second Grind My Gears 2018.

Now this might just be a basic oversight on my part, but I can’t find the over half of this next split. I mean, it’s not where I think it should be so I haven’t looked much further past that. The Blight Worms half of the split with Suppressant will do just fine though. There’s eight grind tracks with four click count ins, penny drop blast shifts and hoarse HM-2 vocals. What more do I have to say about it? It’s about as wholesome as grind gets with pleasingly predictable beats and breaks. “rictus grin” and “lucid” might be meat and potatoes but dammit I love meat and potatoes. Something a bit more adventurous next?

[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=889004479 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=ffffff]

Nah, just kidding. Got that new Rotten Sound though and it’s not a split. It’s an EP. So we’re done with the split part of the bit. The May 18th release of new EP Suffer To Abuse should be a notable date for anyone sensible enough to put time into 2016’s Abuse To Suffer (we see what you did there). I’m not aware of a terrible Rotten Sound record, though some of their back catalogue is a bit thin around the middle. “Harvester of Boredom” is a healthy two minute indicator that the new EP will be a fitting partner in not just name but pockets of fearsome crust and grind. Not too sure about the artwork though.

The You Suffer Global Grind Tour


North America

Someone is recording lo-fi grind covers of Rush songs. The project is called Thrush. I have nothing else to add. Find it yourself. Blame Canada.

Europe

Spain gives us some deathgrind that reeks of Carcass from karmak. There’s even hints of melodeath that break through, like the mutant child that Arch Enemy might have grown into, God willing. Thanks Spain!

The UK doesn’t go unrepresented, thanks to a violent sludge split (fooled ya, there was another split) from FilthXCollins and Skinlover. Good old Blighty, always rely on the Brits for something spunky and pissed up.

[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=217860274 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=ffffff]

That’s it. That’s the World Tour. Brief, I know. I’m lazy.

Matt MacLennan

Published 7 years ago