Insect Warfare / Carcass Grinder

Insect Warfare were one of the greatest grind bands ever. They peaked early and died young. Their brief discography (one full-length, several EPs & splits) is of the highest possible quality and this split with Japanese DIY grinders Carcass Grinder further cements IW's legacy as a top-five all-time grind band. That Carcass Grinder's side doesn't hold weight is not surprising as few bands would be able to withstand the elite level beatdown that IW shells out with ease.

The best word to describe IW's side of this split is burly, as in burly guitar tone, burly bass tone, burly vocals fronting an in-the-pocket blitz of drums. For a genre hell-spent for speed at all costs, IW keeps thing sharply abrasive and quick without sacrificing any heft. The tracks here rate among the heaviest they ever recorded. "Mind Ripper" would reappear on their lone full-length but "Pestilent Excruciation" and "City Of Enemies" are unique to this split. As is the four-second micro-song "False Grind Alienation," an obvious tongue-in-cheek Napalm Death parody. Comedy aside, the three actual tunes here are killer and exactly what you'd expect from IW: classic, old-school grindcore focused on extreme blasting, with some d-beat and wall-of-groove interludes, and morosely pessimistic political lyrics. Think F.E.T.O. era N.D. meets Assück but with a uniquely Gulf Coast Grind quality that is hard to define other than it sounds rougher, more personally unhinged, which is key. IW take those earlier templates and deliver them with an intoxicated amphetamine recklessness that sets them apart from other, similar grinders.

Carcass Grinder, on the other hand, sound relatively harmless by comparison. These DIY punkers don't bother with the kind of first-rate heavy production that IW favor. These tracks sound like you are listening to them through tinny alarm clock speakers. The instruments all kinda blur into metronomic white noise with some harsh shrieking and gang shouts over it. A few neat riffs sorta peek out at you for a second before being subsumed again. Carcass Grinder get five tracks worth of time to make an impression but I wasn't impressed. Grind is a difficult genre in which to stand out. Carcass Grinder take their place in line with the generics, especially apt considering one flip of the 7" gives you some of the most stand-out grind ever.

Insect Warfare side: 97%
Carcass Grinder side: 53%
Total: 75%