Splatterhash

I had never been particularly sure about Cannabis Corpse (for those arriving fresh to that name, it is what it sounds like), since I never saw the point in making music about another band's music through the hazy eyes of a weed-smoker. However, I guess I was either too imaginative and thought that the music would have to be weed-themed too, possibly making it stoner rock, instead of merely a free playing field of death metal with a gimmicky lyrical slant that doesn't matter since the lyrics are not a point of focus. As for Ghoul, I already knew all about their gimmicky lyrical slant, what with all their humour and self-referencing, but I just understood that the important thing was their limitless imagination for the thrash and death metal genres. So, despite my ignorance of one and appreciation of the other, it seems that a split between Cannabis Corpse and Ghoul is a match made in heaven, especially with a title like Splatterhash, itself a weed-pun on Ghoul's most famous full-length.

It's a good split as well, in the sense that both bands put some new material onto it, the cover art befits a mash-up of the groups' personalities, and the styles match fairly well. The whole affair is over pretty quickly, four songs not lagging much over 12 minutes, but we get the best of both worlds, the old school death of Cannabis Corpse looping its pretty way through some nice riffing and especially elastic bass work, falling just short of technical by actually including brief grooves. 'The Inhalation Plague' grabbed my attention right away and pretty much guaranteed a great impression of the Virginians: it winds through so many different sections and moods in under three minutes without descending into a wankfest of changing tempos and mindless riffs. 'Shatter Their Bongs' is nicely satisfying too, playing more with different paces.

Ghoul opt for two rather opposite tracks in their capacious style, 'Inner Sanctum' taking a more serious route through chilly black thrash and 'Spill Your Guts' verging on the edge of crossover thrash and featuring Ghoul's unusual mixture of gory and humorous lyrics. The former shows how the Californians have made a career of sounding familiar and yet unpredictable, veering from generic chugging and blackened melodies into sections with monstrous voiceovers and a solo under which wah bass is glaringly obvious. Away from their carefully crafted albums, a bit of the appeal is lost, though the diverse flavours of 'Inner Sanctum' get rounded off with the gruff sprint of 'Spill Your Guts'. The choppy slam riff in the bridge is something refreshing, as well as this choice verse:

Gnawing at your stomach
In the offal splattered dirt
Sopping up the drippings
With your Iron Reagan shirt

To put it in a nutshell, as both bands do with their appeal on Splatterhash, this is a nicely crafted little thing that should cause happiness to all fans who get their hands on it. Final thoughts: can the undead get high?