Cliteater / Suppository

Grindcore in its various guises is not an easy style of music to get into. It can often descend into a complete mess with no direction if done badly. Personally I’ve always thought it was just very extreme Death Metal, i.e. no solos, deeper vocals, faster blasting and short songs. This split (no pun intended – I know what you’re thinking) of two Dutch grind outfits contains two totally different takes on the genre. Cliteater’s preceding effort “Eat Clit or Die” was your typical goregrind affair with guttural vocals, screams, samples, blasting drums, etc, etc, so I wasn’t expecting anything different on the new songs. However the first thing that strikes you with these songs is the sheer heaviness. By that I mean the huge wall of sound that besieges you as it erupts from the speakers. Any form of grind has to have an element of groove or it descends into pointless noise and here the band has increased the use of melody and slowed the songs down a tad, but still kept the overall intensity intact. There aren’t really any standout tracks overall, but “Radio Tschernobyl” and “Camel Fuckers” definitely struck a nerve, with catchy riffs and a groovy rhythm. Not sure why but bands like these seem to have an oil can snare drum sound which definitely means you can hear it, but I just don’t like it.

Suppository has a long history of split albums as you can see and these latest aural missiles demonstrate their experience easily. Their material is exceedingly aggressive and ferocious with plenty of Terrorizer style riffing and thunderous Repulsion like bass work in every song. The sound samples are short and this definitely helps to maintain the intensity. The riffs barrage you relentlessly and are complemented by a fantastic drum sound which knocks you senseless. Suppository sit very well with the Nasum and Rotten Sound style of grind, and this is easily a match for any material put out by those two awesome bands. This is the last release with vocalist Boris and his performance here is savage to say the least. His vocals vary considerably but that savagery always remains. No individual song leaps out at you as they’re all of equal viciousness. On the whole, this split album is damn good and offers two very different bands playing grindcore in very different ways, both of which have traits the other band doesn’t have. If you want grind with groove yet pulverises your eardrums then this is definitely for you.