Review by: Sam Hunt
Maybe it’s been over-hyped. Or maybe I was expecting too much from it. But for whatever reason, I can’t help feeling slightly underwhelmed by this release.
Of course, Despise You and Agoraphobic Nosebleed are both awesome bands in their own right, yet neither have provided any significantly noteworthy material to this record. And considering it’s the first significant output from Despise You in nearly a decade (besides from their appearance on This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 2, which I believe they provided fresh material for), this might not be to their aid.
I started with Despise You, who I was a little more excited to listen to than ANB, and while they’re as heavy and bleak as you’d expect them to be, there’s something inconsistent about their side of the record, like their tracks aren’t flowing together as well as they should (or could) be. It’s slightly disjointed, and I can’t feel the heart in it like I could with everything that was on West Side Horizons. Perhaps time has taken its toll, I don’t know.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s side is certainly more consistent (one of the great things about ANB is that they seem to concentrate on each release giving a full album “experience”), but at the same time, this simply just isn’t their strongest material. Although the drum programming sounds absolutely delightful, we may be hitting a time when ANB are losing momentum.
Plus on top of this, and without trying to sound like Joe Punk Rock or something, I feel the actual release of the split was a tad too corporate, something I wouldn’t expect from ANB and certainly not from Despise You. Relapse have got a multitude of bundle packages on sale concerning the release, there’s been competitions for free copies, I don’t know, it just feels less concerned with substance than it does with the fact that two bands that have been going for years who everyone bums off have made a split, and just that alone is enough of a selling point.
One word? Meh.