Educated Scum vs. Fightback

Russian and crushing. I came across this band while seeking out and was able to find this split with UK punk/crust outfit Fightback. It contains their demo released in 2004.

To describe it as 'grindcore' would be a little inaccurate as the guitar tone is definitely more akin to death/thrash. Clocking in at 17 minutes over the course of 16 tracks, it stylistically is a grind album. With a few songs under the 0:30 mark, most barley manage to get close to two minutes and yet even still the speed can become cumbersome. Due only to the use of a drum machine. But I like the punchy quality when the guitars are synced up and it's firing on all cylinders. Truth is the rhythm guitars here are a low-end tremolo, almost sounding Bolt Thrower-esque. They rumble along as the mechanical drumming rockets past. There's a lot of speed of course but then on a few tracks they let up on the intensity to launch into a strong guitar lead that wouldn't be out of place on a thrash record. This is really the interesting thing for this group. It's best described as a grind'n'roll/thrash crossover.

Summarizing the sound, it would basically be a 'core' version of Bleeding the False with a dose of Soul of a New Machine. For the most part the songs are your typical grinding blast of speed and pounding heaviness. 'Psalm to Life Part I' is a great piece of music followed by the not-so-good sequel, 'Part II'. 'Lethargic Era' is a bulldozing track that never lets up. The title track 'From Chaos to Disorder' contains a fade section that births another blazing solo. The lead guitar work is splattered around nicely throughout; not appearing in all cuts, concentrating it's explosiveness very precisely. The vocals are the weakest link here; no power or modulation. Lying low in the mix they rumble along with the churning rhythm guitars. Twas a few moments where the vocalist seemed to have not warmed up properly for the recording, losing his breath on some guttural wretches.

The unfortunate thing about their side of this split is that it becomes very mechanical. Brevity aside, there's no raw power to be ascertained from this demo. Perhaps the lack of cymbal use overall, the inorganic flat drums and the absence of bass heft are all factors contributing to the missing ferocity here. You know, the insane kit bashing we as metalheads maybe take for granted on our favorite recordings. The lack of any dynamic rhythmic shifts is also noticeable, causing a streamlined, stale & repetitive timbre.

That which finishes off this dual offering is the crusty British blokes, Fightback. They play chaotic crust/punk with interchanging low/high vocals. The lead vocalist has a guttural yell however the backing vocalist sounds like a fucking crow screeching up in the rafters. The recording is not done very well with everything sounding like it was recorded in an empty garage. The guitars are very low in the mix and the snare quickly becomes monotonous. The guitar tone is nice & raw and riffs are heavy but this is about as generic as it gets. Relying more on their vocal (in)abilities and political message, there's no meat on these bones. Each song just runs into the next. This is just split filler. Nothing to hear here...and the new material has revealed a more radio-friendly sound.

I would say that if Educated Scum were to spend time giving their sound a much richer and deep sound, it would most certainly help them get some attention. Probably best to keep an eye on these Muscovites. In conclusion, working as a metal addict's quick fix for blasting noise, this lopsided split offers little nuggets of sonic molestation in a short and extreme package.