Brootality Without Borders

Time to take out the memegore trash. With a MS Paint "artwork" made by a 3 year old and song titles á la "Operation Buttsex", the split Brootality Without Borders combines many red flags. Even though I knew nothing about Cytoscopy, having heard the earlier stuff from the German band Al Goregrind, which contributed the b-side to this split, I had even less hope than I had when first looking at it. Maybe buying their discography wholesale without checking out much wasn't my brightest idea.

Cytoscopy are doing the honours of starting the record and after a few seconds, I already regret all decisions I made in the past five years. What these people recorded for this split sounds like a horde of drunken monkeys rioting in a musical instrument shop. While there are short segments of what appears to be somewhat groovy goregrind, the majority of it is abysmal gorenoise with awful sound and completely random shit flying by. The vocals are just as hopeless, ranging from deep gurgling all the way to what might be (pseudo?)reversed spoken-words. Just think of the last time you heard a "Mindless Italian Whore Gurgling on Fermented Chianti" and tell me if Cytoscopy's music comes close to that, because I have no fucking idea and I absolutely don't want to find out.

Up next, for better or worse, are Al Goregrind, who are also contributing three songs to the split. But at least the duo from Hesse knows how to play their instruments and is offering a solid yet generic take on brutal death and goregrind. Some slammy riffs and a lot of grinding rage get combined with a shitload of nasty pig squeals and samples of random (German) memes. Sometimes things get a little fancy with furious tremolos or some hoarse hardcore shouts and minor Japanische Kampfhörspiele influences. Despite being lightyears ahead of Cytoscopy, the music does still feel cobbled together and comes with harsh shifts in style and speed. Additionally, the drum computer's sterility is giving this a really surreal and anorganic sound, making the tracks a lot less enjoyable for me. It's br00dl, chaotic and nasty, but ultimately unfulfilling.

Brootality without Borders is a pretty mixed bag. While Cytoscopy's side is a complete drivel and a smorgasbord of instruments falling down stairs, Al Goregrind's part is doing its job a lot better. It's not really great, it's not even good, but they know how to handle instruments and even manage to write actual songs. While the tinny drum computer and the randomness of their approach ain't quite up my alley, I have to admit, that I did enjoy some parts of it and they do keep it pretty varied overall. The transitions are pretty harsh though. I don't think I'd recommend this to anyone.

Cytoscopy - 2%
Al Goregrind - 24%