My God. For the sake of the poor listener’s health, I hope no-one finds this in the easy listening section and grabs a copy by mistake. A yaaaaaay fest of the highest order, this is a split CD of two of the countries more acquired taste listening experiences. It’s also the first release on Contrition Records, which if I remember correctly from the Earth Crisis gig, was said to be the new label set up by one of the Canvas guitarists. Formalities out the way, it’s time to gargle.

Canvas are a bit arty it has to be said. So it depends when you catch me as to whether I like them or not. At the moment, I do. The tracks here are actually intelligently constructed. They move through passages, and it’s relatively controlled mayhem, held together by a fine rhythm section. Of course the vocals irritate the fuck out of me, something that occurs with Hard To Swallow as well, but that’s ok, for the most part I can put it aside when I need to. The twists and turns of the likes of Womb Plague and the crushing droning grind of R.S.I keep me interested. It’s perverse and sick, but ...

HTS aren’t as arty, but they’re no more accessible either. Mixing more speed blasts into their music, as witnessed on To Have And To Loathe you can almost hear the phlegm in the voices of Bloody Kev and Pete who occupy the vocal duties. In fact, combined with the music on say Pullpit it’s almost like witnessing 2 sides take each other on in musical combat as the production mixes things from side to side with the guitars and drums. And is that a heart monitor like thing at the start of Spitroast? A considerate offering to the listener. And a great drawn out riff in there as well. The honours at the end? Hmmm, even I think. HTS keep it more focussed at times, but when Canvas really do loose their minds, well it’s a sick sight in there.

Of course, play either of these bands near your parents, and they’ll disown you immediately. Well, after giving you a look of "what the ..."

Managed to get given a copy of this at the Kill II This / 3D House of Beef gig. Which is nice as I’d been trying to get a copy. 6 tracks which take you on a much wider musical journey than I at first thought it would. I had visions of it being another hardcore fest, but although it’s hard, it’s more varied and adventorous, and retains a metal heart along with some furious double bass kick drumming. To the extent that as it starts up with the title track itself, the name Fear Factory creeps in. Playing in a similar vein, but when the vocals take the more melodic kick, they sound a whole lot more soulful than Bell manages, but there again, not nearly as convincing on the harsher material. Maybe they should stick with the more melodic vocal leanings. Shit, I just managed to burn my tea a bit cos I was listening to this. What more ringing endorsement could you want????? But I’ll forgive them that, cos this is better than my tea is going to be anyway. Dry is fairly disjointed in it’s feel, all hyper speed drums, more thoughtful guitars, and a wah section going on in there.

But is it enough to set them apart from the rest? Probably not at the moment, but that’s what development is all about innit? We’ll have to see how they go. Best track here is I Alone, in which they slow things down, give everything more space, more melody, there’s some keyboards in the background for atmosphere, and then allow it to all build to a heavier faster conclusion. This is the way I think they ought be be going.

This is another in that Org series of monthly singles limited to just 1000. And like the Cynical Smile one before it, this comes with an extra 12 tracks making for a 17 track single. Which makes it worth checking out whether you like the band or not. Because there’s a good chance there’ll be something here that’s new to you and may just catch your eye. Or ear. Anyway, Muy Feo are ok, but they don’t set my pulse racing overboard. It’s all ok, Chance Operation is funky and crunchy, Too Pure passes by and Drag Habit and Dead Arms finish off their quota, but it just isn’t sticking with me at the moment. Nothing wrong but ..... Watch out for Rothko though. More next time.

Time to dip the toes into Black once more, as I’ve just received this. Shouldn’t go by appearances, but that centre pic of shadowy figures (the band), holding aloft a trust sword, and a back pic of holding some animal head skeleton do not for a good feeling make. But the music as it starts on From The Moons Mist We Arise isn’t quite as bad as I was fearing. Very symphonic (which from my limited experience this sort of music aims for), and with some initially pretty melodic guitar, the vocalist opens his gob and out comes a sound which, if you wanted to suggest it, could border on the hardcore at times. That sort of throaty roar which can get very old very quickly. As do the lyrics, some may like to "attack the enemy, maim all in your path, cast the curse of contorting pain, dominate with your blade", as Writhing Glory suggests, but I’m not one of them. I prefer to attack with words. It’s a release that I don’t know, I hate it when people get on metal’s back, because I know the influence it’s had on music today, and it still most definitely has it’s merits. But when you remove everything but the music from this, it’s difficult not to see why people ridicule. The blurb that came with it is very earnest, and funny. I can’t help but think that if I wanted to try and make change, or be subversive, there are many more powerful means than music.

But still, the atomospherics and chill wind blows for the start of Immaculate Bloodline and we’re into a bit of the deep spoken drawl. The guitars still churn away at full tilt though in the background, though it’s right, that because of the sheer speed, you actually loose some of the heaviness. You’d think that something like this would be mind crushingly heavy, but to me it’s not, because you simply loose some of the chug factor, some of the crush, even when rhythmically they do slow down a bit. Shame, cos there’s some actually really decent guitar melodies in here as well. Tearsoaked Ground even has some tribal sounding drums in there, which is actually quite bizarre mixed in with those symphonic keyboards.

And why do these albums try to destroy your eyesight. The font is hard enough to read, and then they put it in red on a black and turquoise like background. I know I’m trying to knacker you all with small print, but this is just silly. Not the one to convert me to "the dark side". Now Darth Vader on the other hand. Now he was subversive.