G&P Review: Abscess/Population Reduction

Abscess/Population Reduction
Split
Tank Crimes
Heretical confession time.
Most of what’s considered classic American death metal – the shit I supposedly grew up with – bores the ever living fuck out of me. Morbid Angel can’t hold my attention (but I love Vader, so figure that one out). I listened to Cause of Death for the first time in about a decade the other day and once was pretty much enough to remind me why I sold my copy years ago. Death’s wankery bores me to tears (and I hate, Hate, HATE Chuck Schuldiner’s voice). Deicide, beyond pointing and laughing, does nothing for me. Ditto Cannibal Corpse.
The exception that always proved that rule was Autopsy, whose doomy deathy creepy crawly goodness on Mental Funeral ranks right up there with Winter for me as landmark “whoa, wait, WTF?” albums that turned me on to doom. So it’s kind of a surprise to me that I hadn’t bothered to check out Chris Reifert et al’s post-Autopsy scum punk project Abscess until now when they’ve called it quits.
Maybe I wouldn’t have waited so long if somebody had told me Abscess sorta sound like dearly departed Texan weirdoes Dead Horse (anybody remember them?). But here they are on this old-meets-new split from last year with the similarly demented Population Reduction. It’s a nice match because both bands seem to make a career out of being bizarrely provocative without devolving into cheap and tired gore tirades. Abscess queasily bookend their half of the split with “Nausea Without End” and an out of left field cover of the Pepto Bismol jingle. Everything between is just beer drenched insanity.

Abscess – “The World Insane”

As for Population Reduction, their resin-caked thrash/grind amalgam snaps, crackles and pops as they launch hilariously titled diatribes your way on “Babies are Assholes” and “Art Fucking Sucks.”

Population Reduction – “In With the Old, Out With the Cold”

Quirky, demented and listenable. That’s all I really ask.

[Full disclosure: Population Reduction kindly provided me with a review copy.]

G&P review: King Generator

King Generator
King Generator
Tankcrimes
Mike Hill is a man who knows his way around a studio and his tenure with Anodyne, Versoma and Tombs to date has shown him consistently able to squeeze out Godzilla sounds on a Geico Gecko budget. All that is to say we’re gonna give the man a pass on King Generator’s self titled mini album, which sounds like it was recorded under a pillow in a room full of feathers. I’m assuming that’s got to be deliberate given King Generator’s throwback hardcore style and Hill’s track record behind a mixing board.
I’ve slotted this eight minute barrage between later Capitalist Casualties, Asshole Parade, Slight Slappers and Battletorn on my mp3 player, all of which serve as sign posts for King Generator’s blown out style.
Hill’s bass bleeds into Jamie Thomson’s (The Process/Shank) guitar lines, creating a nearly indistinguishable wall of fuzz while Dave Witte (every significant fast band in the last 15 years) blasts, thumps and whumps his way though all eight sweaty minutes of rapid tempo hardcore.
There’s nothing here that you haven’t heard a bazillion times before – Thomson unintelligibly barks and spits foam while the band chugs away at speeds pushing human endurance limits – but the trio, all of whom have toiled in DIY music since fastcore’s formative years, have the cred and the focus to pull it off successfully, and the album’s short run keeps tedium at bay even when they pull done-to-death stunts like slotting the three minute, down tempo song at the end of the album (“My One Regret”).
As with Hill’s Tombs project and ASRA’s debut on his Black Box label, Tankcrime smartly included a CD version with the single-sided 10-inch vinyl for lose lacking the 1s and 2s at home.
Some of these guys’ recent projects, such as Sino Basila or Hope Collapse, have regrettably been one-off projects rather than going affairs, but King Generator ably reach back into their collective experience to produce an eminently listenable collection of retro tunes. Here’s hoping this generator hasn’t run out of steam after one outing.