A few years back, I used to be friends with this kid Lee. He played drums in a few local metal bands and he loved blastbeats. He predominantly listened to a grind and death metal bands. I haven't seen him in quite some time, but if I did happen to run into him, I'd suggest that he buy this split from Magrundergrind and Shitstorm.
The first of these two emerging acts is Magrundergrind. They're from the D.C. area and deliver nine tracks of scorching thrash and grindcore. The songs are often short, concluding in less than a minute, and are dominated by sonic blastbeats and machinegun riffs. Though the occasional big sweeping riff is thrown in to give the material some added character. On top of it all, Avi delivers high-pitched screams not unlike Agoraphobic Nosebleed; you could try and decipher what he is saying, but it is really pointless. Unfortunately, none of this interests me one bit. It's just not my thing - but it may be yours.
On the other end of this split we have Shitstorm, from Florida, whom contains two members of the stoner-pop group Torche. This sounds nothing like that, it's just a selling point or so I am told. Shitstorm impale the listener with more of what we heard from Magrundergrind: quick cuts of fast riffs, blastbeats, and crazy drum fills. Where Shitstorm differs is in the vocal capacity. Vocalist David Smith is much more gruff and bellowing in his delivery, thus you can actually understand some (not all) of the words that he spews. But like Magrundergrind, I'm not really impressed with what I hear.
Normally I like what Robotic Empire releases, this just happens to be one of those records that I can't get into. But it's not the bands' fault, nor is it the label's. This just isn't my cup of tea, however, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that this CD is perfect for. Lee is one of them.
