Reviews Roundup – A Split Worse Than Death vs. The Hard Ground vs. The Urban Voodoo Machine

Reviews Roundup – A Split Worse Than Death vs. The Hard Ground vs. The Urban Voodoo Machine
Various Artists
A Split Worse Than Death
Grindscene

Hwoooooaar. Gnnnuuughh. Woaarnnnn. Yes, it’s time for some underground metal. The kind of thing that gets the neighbours worried when you join in at two in the morning, just after you’ve lobbed a bottle of White Lightning at a passing car. And who better to do it than the five way spilt that is Foetal Juice, BTK, Decimation, Zombified and Nailed. Well they’re all present and correct on this 21 track split CD.

And the best is up first with the delightful Foetal Juice who’ve mutated from their death metal roots and now serve up delights such as ‘Colostomy Baguette’ with great abandon. BTK or Basement Torture Killings to give them their Sunday name take their cues from the likes of Deicide as they blast through ‘Tapestry Of Putrid Genitalia’ and other serial killer fixated ditties. Cornish metallers Decimation seem determined to distance themselves from the surfing oo-arr contemporaries and offer up some straight death metal delights such as ‘Honour Killing’.

We’re most familiar with Zombified and they don’t disappoint with their old school death metal, which harks back to the likes of Cannibal Corpse, with their best tune, ‘Circle Of Parasites’. And to close off your very own mini-festival who better than the blackened death metal veterans that are Nailed, with four tracks, the highlight of which is ‘Devoid Of Humanity. All together now, form your own pit and “Hwoooooaar. Gnnnuuughh. Woaarnnnn”.

http://www.grindscene.co.uk
THE HARD GROUND
Broken Conversations
Rainbow Rain

And now by contrast, here’s some Irish Americana. Oh yes, we fly high and fall far with our listening habits round here. The Hard Ground is a four piece band from Cork consisting of two main songwriters Pat Carey and Marlene Enright who share vocals and split the songwriting credits right down the middle. Now, brace yourselves, because this is a ‘song cycle’. Or a concept album in old money.

Seems that it’s a story of woman discovers boyfriend is a dirty stop-oot. He goes it wisnae me, it wisnae me, it wisnae me, it wis me. They split up, he realises he’s been a tube and hits the bottle while his erstwhile bidey in goes all girly and Jane Austen in a fog of melancholy. So now you know. Carey is the better of the two singers and things really come to life when he lifts his leg and lets one go, but it’s actually an engaging piece overall. The songs aren’t all A division, but on the likes of ‘A Man, A God, A Woman’, ‘Bad Faith’ and ‘Nearly Man’, you’ll find yourself drawn into their musical world with ease.

Of course I have to be nice, as 175 years ago, a family of Enrights moved to Embra, married some Cork Moores and begat me.  So, it’s family, innit.

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THE URBAN VOODOO MACHINE
Rare Gumbo
Gypsy Hotel

Now that’s just lazy that is. The Urban Voodoo Machine have been on the go for ten years now, but have only released two albums. So, naturally, rather than do the decent thing and serve up something new to their six fans, they instead bung out a compilation album consisting of tracks from their first three EPs, some single b-sides and some odds and sods that weren’t good enough the first time around. For shame.

They claim it’s an appetiser for their third album “Love, Drink & Death” due later this year, but I’m no having any of it. The bastards. Formed all those years ago by Paul-Ronney Angel and ex-Flesh For Lulu frontman Nick Marsh in, the London based band mix up New Orleans blues and folk-punk in a manner befitting a cross between the London Queerboys and the Pogues. So you already know exactly what this sounds like. Yes, it’s the sound of all those pubs I frequented in the early eighties where you could find Theatre Of Hate, Southern Death Cult and an assortment of New York Dolls wannabees falling over in their own sick.

But some people like that sort of thing. I know I did after my fourth bottle of dark Furstenberg. And there are some good songs here. ‘You Got Me (By The Balls)’, the brass enhanced ‘Recipe For Disaster’ and even their AC/DC cover ‘Hells Bells’ stand up to repeat listening. So if you can’t be arsed hiring a dog on a string, fishing for tabs oot the bin and drinking snakebite in a rat infested hell hole, buy this and create your own version in the comfort of your own home.

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