Labels: Battleground
Review by: Alex Deller
Kinda like the vibe that this one gives off, harking as it does back to the grubby-fingered split releases you might have found on labels like Bovine, Pessimiser and Reservoir back in the mid-to-late 90s. Oryx kick things off with some torpid, crust-dashed doom that loves off any number of Noothgrush split 7″s and chucks the occasional Dystopia inflection into the mix for good measure. After two of their own they close with a cover of Corrupted’s ‘Dios Injusto’ which was apparently slavish enough to confound even the Japanese masters into thinking it was one of their own … personally I don’t know as this is much to crow about since I tend to favour individuality over mimicry, but their own songs are at least good enough to help me get over such nimminy pimminy gripes. Languish share their buddies’ sense of dirtiness but opt for a speedier, grindier sound that smashes together Despise You, Excruciating Terror and Bolt Thrower to enjoyably ill effect. Things clatter, blast and roar while feedback pishes coarsely through it all, the band scooping up whatever was left of your head after Oryx finished were done and throwing it hard against the wall out of plain ol’ meanness.