Rompepig

Rompeprop and Guineapig are two self-described "goregrind" bands. Goregrind is basically grindcore with much less punk influences, lower-tuned guitars, deeper guttural/pig shrieking vocals, heaver use of film/sound samples in their music and generally more gore-obsessed than grindcore ever was. To be completely honest, I'm not the biggest fan of grindcore and its countless derivative sub-genres. In reality, most tags associated with such bands, reflect the image and lyrical aspect of the music, and not the musical qualities themselves.

Most grindcore is relatively bland, unless it is mixed with other musical genres to spice things up. Fast chord progressions and abrasive/confrontational vocals can keep things interesting for a little while, but like most genres, unless you evolve and improve, things are going to get boring. This is how I felt listening to this split. There is little to no variation at all, and most of the props and motifs used in the overall production and promotion of this product, come off as cheesy and comical to an annoying extent. Even though both bands provide nothing of substance that is worth to point out, I do have to admit that Guinepig had almost redeemed this split completely were it not for the extremely short length of this 10 minutes release.

The music played by Romemprop is frankly abhorrent and a lame excuse for "goregrind". It becomes instantly obvious that this band don't take themselves too seriously, and the music is a reflection of that. Their heavy use of samples is bothersome, and most of the times, the selection of samples is simply arbitrary and lacks any purpose or sense. Most of the guitar work is almost inaudible due to poor mixing, and the drums sound awfully synthetic. On the other hand, Guinepig actually provide the listener with two decent short tracks. Even though both bands provided two songs for this split, in substance, the last two songs are much beefier and inventive than their previous counterparts. The vocal effects used by the singer also leave a decent impact, and pull off a good job in making the vocals sound as animalistic as possible.

In conclusion, this sub-genre in general, I feel is not to be taken too seriously. Most bands belonging to these innumerable spin-off genres like pornogrind, cybergrind, death-grind, goregrind are all mostly parodies of other, more successful extreme metal bands. The music at face value is enjoyable if you're partying and doing cocaine and alcohol. The cover art of most of these short-releases are also very impressive and alluring due to their heavy use of bright colors. If you're looking for thoughtful, inspiring music, this might not really be anything that would fit right in your alley.