Bunch of stuff going on here that I can get behind, but it needs a little bit of a push before it’s ‘there’. Various strains of 90s hardcore collide, from the crusty, stanky sounds of Dystopia to the murderous lurch of Neanderthal and the full-tilt hurtle of Excruciating Terror. You know, all that vile stuff where the lyric sheets had serial killer handwriting and you felt like you needed a bit of a scrub once the record ground to a halt. These elements need a bit of tightening up – a bit more punch; a few extra turns of the crank in terms of tension – but so far so good, right? Where things fall down a bit, though, are the grind parts which actually make up the lion’s share of THRIF’s activity. They fall into that trap of hammering away so hard that it all becomes a bit meaningless: a jabbering blur where it’s all too easy to switch off until another slow part comes around. Still, it’s not a bad effort – apparently there’s a full-length in the offing, and I’d be happy enough to give it a whirl if it happened to come my way.