I had been seeing this album cover in my local record store a few times. What caught my eye was the cover. Something about it just stuck out from the rest of the albums. But what I forgot to do the first time was actually remember to get the name of the album and artists. I did not make that mistake a second time. And when I heard the album I was glad I didn’t. This album is heavy, raw, dirty, crusty, sludgy, hardcore.
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| Alpinist. Photo by Carmelo Española |
Germany’s Alpinist starts us off with six tracks that are highly charged musically and lyrically. With subjects like anti-war and anti-Nazism this is music with a message. A message delivered with machine gun guitars and well beaten drums. The last track ‘Quelle Valeur Reste’ is stand out. It changes things up a bit by adding atmosphere sounding more akin to Sludge.
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| Masakari. Photo by Carmelo Española |
Next up is Cleveland’s Masakari. Where Alpinist leave off Masakari pick up and run with it. The Sludge is strong with this band. Amazingly while their songs may be shorter than Alpinists, they seem to be able to do more in them. Allowing songs to build in their intensity. Not always going right for the throat from the beginning. The bass sound is a monster.
This split does what a good split should do. Give you just a taste of each band and make you hungry for more. I know I plan on going back for seconds.
[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]