Neolithic feature peeps from Pulling Teeth and Putrisect, which causes you to wonder whether they met because their albums were kept right next to each other at the record store. ‘Inner Adversary’ sees them coming at things from a death metal angle, though you can still detect vague hardcore inferences here and there. The drums are relentless and all-encompassing, at times threatening to overawe the tidy guitarwork and choked-out death rattles. It’s one of those ones that’s sturdy without being life-altering, and an album’s worth of the same could go either way.
As if in homage to what’s occurring on the other side, Martyrdöd have pulled out all the metal stops, working in wonderfully portentous melodies and some corking guitar pyrotechnics alongside the phlegmy rasps and barrelling hardcore attitude. It could easily have sloped from their excellent ‘List’ LP, but as a standalone here it’s also the clear standout.