Another day, another split 7" EP. This time, it's a bit of a special one, because here we see New York's favorite sons Brutal Truth teaming up with powerviolence pioneers Spazz, so this is going to be a fun one, I can feel it already.
Spazz is up first, and they do what they usually do, and that's being their own weird selves. They play what perhaps could be best described as Cryptic Slaughter boiled down to the barest essence, and they simply run with it. The band does their thing using a lot of speedy old school hardcore riffing and shouted vocalisations, and they underpin this with blastbeats and hardcore thrash percussion galore, serving up their manic speedcore rumblings in a bass-heavy soundmix. Their songs really, REALLY do not last long, and the hyperactive energy they exude makes it all the more fun to listen to. In style they could be best compared with acts like Lärm, No Comment or Infest, all bands that kept it short, fast and intense, and that is exactly the way to best describe Spazz as well. The band also does not shy away from trying something different either, because while the tracks "Nuge on a Stick" and "Donker" keep to the fast and loud formula, opener "Spazz vs Mother Nature" sees the band slowing things down to a crawl, even incorporating a banjo into the mix. These guys are just nuts in what they do, and I can't help just loving every second of it.
Following that, it's Brutal Truth. I adored their "Extreme Conditions ..." and "Need to Control" efforts, but after that they became odder and odder with each release they did, and they kinda lost me there, I'm afraid. Their side of this split is from that period where they started incorporating more hardcore punk and noisier elements into their grinding death approach, and at first I wasn't sure about what to think of it, but after a while the penny did drop. The blastbeat driven attack the band delivered before has gotten injected with a good deal more of crazy noisecore guitar patterns, added dissonance and punk-ish riffs, and while it isn't as straight forward as before, I have to admit that this stuff sounds absolutely intense, helped in great part by Kevin Sharp's roars and screams. The band work themselves through two originals and a Die Kreuzen cover (which they totally nail!) , and they do it sounding focused and convincing all the way through. Nowhere does the high speed onslaught deteriorate into incomprehensible chaos, but thanks to the natural but still gritty soundmix everything comes out roaring. Perhaps I should check back into some of their post "Need to Control" stuff, because what is presented on this split isn't all that shitty. It may not be the revved up death metal of their debut anymore, but this is still aggressive and intense stuff nonetheless.
This is one of those split EP's where both participants absolutely hit the bullseye. Both the hypercharged hardcore punk of Spazz and the noise infected grindcore of Brutal Truth totally nail it, making this vinyl platter one hell of an intense bout of musical terrorism, and frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way.