5 Band Genetic Equalizer Pt.4 [In 4 Parts] / Untitled

NOSEBLEED

While not my favourite grind band, Agoraphobic have certainly stepped up their game into more progressive territory, with longer songs and outstanding drum programming. Reminiscent of their split with The Endless Blockade, these songs have a new coherency to them which seem to serve as a kind of stepping stone toward the more conventional song length/structure to be found on later albums like Agorapocalypse. The riffing is pretty good, and makes good use of two guitars, the riffs propel the music forward, but maybe at the expense of being memorable. The vocals are clean, shouted and strained in an almost powerviolence way, reminder of the band's relationship to that scene and the bands they've often released splits with. Not bad at all, but there is a kind of rock and roll-ness to be found here, especially on Dis-Order of Species.

WARFARE

Unlike parts of World Extermination, this release is maybe more about dynamics than individual riffs. On this split, the band is absolutely destructive and tight as hell. Vocals alternate nicely between grunts and screaming, the guitar is both messy and tight, and the drums chug away like a woodchipper. The guitar tone is thick, the drum sound is heavy.

More than one of the songs has a kind of noise overdub, a kind of squealing, gurgling noise layer reminiscent of Arsedestroyer. The band's Discordance Axis influence is easy to see on tracks like Technology War, built around a jerky groove in a pretty irregular time signature. As usual, there are no solos, no harmonies, no choruses, and no intelligible lyrics. Utterly amazing grindcore from Insect Warfare, a release hindered only by its brevity, and mayyyybe the production – Nosebleed sounds great, but Insect Warfare is just a bit tinnier than usual. Scott Hull, I'm looking in your direction.

Also, both bands submit spot-on black and white art from their go-to designers, Florian Bertmer and Daniel Shaw respectively.

Out of the many Agoraphobic Nosebleed splits, this one has to be my favourite. The amazing artwork and LP Replica packaging is complimented by the band delivering some of their best work, and doing it alongside one of my other favourite grindcore bands, the sadly defunct Insect Warfare.

I think the coolest thing about this EP is that it has an overwhelming sense of 80's powerviolence, thrash and grindcore. The lyrics seem a little more political and science-themed than usual, which reminds me of Napalm Death and Brutal Truth. Speaking of Napalm Death, it seems that Insect Warfare tried to do their own version of 'You Suffer' with 'Coded Steel'. The track runs for 6 seconds, but the actual music goes on for about a second. If that.

There's also, as stated above, quite a lot of thrash influence on this EP. Agoraphobic Nosebleed have worn their thrash influence on their sleeves ever since their 2002 split with Halo, and it's definitely apparent on Agorapocalypse, but the gang shouts on 'Unnatural Selection' are definitely the closest to pure-bred thrash they've been. This continues on the Insect Warfare side, where 'Technology War' slaps you in the face with a riff reminiscent of hyperactive Dave Mustaine on acid.

Overall, this is a great little EP. Both bands have done better, but it's nice to see them doing it together, as they're both excellent bands. It's also worth having, simply because it's the last thing Insect Warfare recorded. The only bad things about it are the production (Don't get me wrong; it's good, but since Scott Hull was doing the mastering, I was expecting it to be a little better than this) and the length. It's a paltry six-minute long EP. Pretty much any one song on Southern Lord is longer than this whole disc. Still, though, it's so very, very good.