Septic Warfare / Talk Sick Earth

A pretty fun little split here, particularly because you can listen to the whole thing in the space of a commercial break while watching TV. Both bands are Jacksonville-based crossover/thrash metal featuring the same vocalist, of course raising questions as to why they're different bands at all. The music is equally good between the two bands and the release is very enjoyable throughout. You know, for all twelve minutes of its running time.

Septic Warfare opens the release with probably the 'goofier' music on this release, having a more significant influence from Iron Maiden and other traditional metal acts than Talk Sick Earth. The band blazes through a few short tracks, opening with a clearly Maiden-derived intro before moving into a riffy style of crossover thrash much like Nuclear Assault. The mood on this side is generally less serious, and Septic Warfare seems to be a less serious project in general compared to Talk Sick Earth. Not to say that they're a 'joke band'; they crank out some phenomenal oldschool riffs and fast, fun thrash songs that don't waste time on protracted repetition of riffs. It's brief but a good intro to the band; hoping to hear more from them soon.

Talk Sick Earth on the other hand a is a bit darker and more carefully composed, and probably the better band on this split. The influence of Nuclear Assault is still definite but with a bit more street punk making this music overall a bit more ragged than the preceding artist. There's some vicious, razor-sharp riffs in these songs, backed up by Sam's dynamic vocal performance and a propulsive, insistent rhythm section. 'Stupid People' is certainly the most developed song, with an endless array of catchy, well-defined riffs and amusing lyrics, but the others are excellent as well for what they are: brief bursts of angry crossover that's infinitely better than any of the retro thrash crap being churned out by major labels these days.

It's a bit on the short side, but overall, this is a solid split from a couple bands sure to go places. Talk Sick Earth just edges out Septic Warfare as far as quality goes, but both artists bring something strong to the table. Looking forward to new material from each in the future.

I lucked out with this one; not only did I get the last copy of this album from the distro I ordered from, but it was actually surprisingly pretty good, considering I'm not a particularly big thrash fan. Both bands on this split play a very similar form of energetic, punky thrash metal (as well as sharing the same singer). When it comes to thrash, I like it fast, short and raw, and both bands completely deliver in all three of those areas. However, considering how similar both bands sound, and the fact that they both share a member, it is rather curious they would release a split album.

Riffs are what this album is all about; after all, it's fucking thrash! The split opens with an instantly headbangable riff, and doesn't really ever let up. Considering the entire split is over and done with in less than 15 minutes, this is a good thing. Both bands show you what they're made of, smash you in the face, and then get the hell out. It's great, really. The longest song, the opener, is not even three and a half minutes long.

Musically and vocally, this album oozes retro; while my tolerance for all this retro thrash crossover movement is very low, this split managed to renew my interest, if only slightly.

But enough BS about my opinion on the state of thrash, what's really important here are the two young bands playing on this split. As I mentioned earlier, both bands share the same vocalist, and are stylistically fairly similar, which on the one hand means it makes perfect sense for them to do a split together, and on the other hand makes me wonder why they even really bothered. Nevertheless, since both bands are pretty good, I can't really complain. Talk Sick Earth have the shorter songs, and also seem a bit more goofy/fun, while Septic Warfare has the better riffs. Sam, the vocalist for both, has the stereotypical thrash metal voice, which suits me just fine. No experiments with death growls or any of that, this is all straight retro, and the falsetto wails are a nice touch.

While this isn't my preferred genre of metal in the least, it's pretty solid, and definitely worthy of a purchase. I look forward to material from both bands. Maybe I like this so much because I've been in an 80s hardcore/punk/thrash mood lately, but it's nevertheless a solid intro to both bands.