Disflesh/Slugfeast - Split

This is probably going to be the largest 'split' ever seen in the history of metal kind. Between the two bands on this album -Disflesh and Slugfeast- they probably could have released their half of the music as a separate. Out of all the twenty four tracks, each band has about twelve songs. Each one is pretty short and holds true to the death metal/grindcore crust style in the sense that everything is brutal. No synths, no harmonious breakdowns, no acoustic guitar passages, no nothing. Just straight up brutal noise made by two guys per band. Unfortunately, after a while, this brutal noise can get a little tiring.

Disflesh does the first half of the album, but it's a rough start for listeners. The sound quality of the music is just terrible because every song sounds like a demo made in someone's basement. There's a certain fuzz or static attached to all the songs so there's a constant hiss that overtakes everything, making it very difficult to hear the music. And even if that static was missing the music is STILL hard to comprehend and hear. The instruments, handled by a man who calls himself "9mm" seems to have the tendency to sound like he set the drums on autopilot and then went to make a sandwich or use the bathroom. They just make a relentless beating with very little tempo change at all. The guitars are a little more endurable but sound far too downtuned and distorted to really pick out the riffs specifically by ear. Most of the time they sound like an even more low-fi version of Darkthrone's earlier work, minus all the black rock n' roll. The vocals, delivered by "B52," are guttural and visceral from the throat but sound a little painful to hear. Perhaps that is because he screams with so much anguish that it impacts the listeners; a good or bad thing? Who knows? Some fans may think it's raw emotion, others may just consider it untrained. As the songs rip along, listeners will notice how there isn't much variation among the songs- save for bits of spoken word passages and finally a bit of melody and catchiness on the track "Chain Reaction," where the drums actually have some skill- to enjoy. Another pitfall of why this album can become tiring.

Once track twelve rolls around listeners will instantly notice the change in music to Slugfeast's half. Compared to Disflesh, Slugfeast is MUCH slower; almost funeral doom metal pace. Everything is done in Spanish and again it's two guys delivering all the brutality. Unfortunately, the music done by Slugfeast is even worse than Disflesh production wise. The guitars sound even more distorted while the drums a little more varied in the sense they have to be slower, but it's the vocals that take the cake. They are guttural, echoing, and sound like they were bellowed into a metal trash can. While the depth of the vocalists- both Josferatum and Antonio, real names finally- is impressive, it is unfortunate how the reverb effect blots out all the other instruments. When the two start roaring, everything else seems to quiet down in fear that these two lions will shred the other instruments. It's gritty, short headbanging music, sometimes a little too short a lot of times. Lyrically, like Disflesh, the music revolves around death and destruction, but for some reason the way that Slugfeast does it in Spanish makes the theme of the music a lot more poetic and less repetitive compared to the other band.

For those who don't mind extremely crusty, lo-fi death-grindcore, then this won't be a problem. Considering how Disflesh has a few more albums under their belt, even if they are just demos, compared to Slugfeast, both Spain-heralding bands obviously either need to find better production methods or a way to make their instruments a bit louder and clearer. While everyone likes a good, evil sounding death metal, there comes a point when it obliterates itself rather than the listeners.

  1. Order vs. Chaos
  2. Blessed Are The Guns
  3. When Nations Fall
  4. Make Your Grave
  5. G.O.A.T.M.D.
  6. Bombs of Peace
  7. Bomb Cult
  8. Five Million Plastic Bags
  9. Doomsday
  10. Chain Reaction
  11. Another Victim (The War)
  12. The Blood Runs Red
  13. Sacrificado Al Macho Cabrio
  14. Alimentado A Base De Cadaveres
  15. Putrifaccion En El Nombre De Cristo
  16. Gusano De Cementario
  17. El Culto De Los Sin Ojos
  18. Aceptando Los Preceptos De Satan
  19. Alucarda
  20. Abominacion Infernal
  21. Sangre Para El Monstruso
  22. Ritual Funerario
  23. Necrofago
  24. Cerveza Y Muertos Viveintes

Hetacombe Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Apr 8, 2010

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