Nunslaughter / Goatsodomy

Nunslaughter, for fans of underground extreme metal, should need little to no introduction. Infamous for their absurd number of split 7-inches and other limited edition releases, and their comparatively paltry collection of full-length LP's, they've been trucking along for decades without ever changing their primitive, bare-bones death metal sound to any noticeable extent. I haven't familiarized myself with enough of their vast discography (and doubt I ever will) to speak in terms of "best" or even "better," but the scarcely 4 minutes of material on their side of this record is certainly, at the very least, up to par. Although these 2 brief tracks may not be the catchiest I've heard, they offer enough in the way of ear-pleasing riffs and grooves to warrant multiple repeat spins (or in my case, a few dozen). "Necromancy" is probably the stronger of the pair, with some nifty start/stop blasting, and Don of the Dead's forever-unchanging raspy roar belting the lyrics enthusiastically. This stuff is about as rudimentary as death metal (or indeed, metal) gets, but I'll take it over pristine, faceless tech-death any day. The music's impact is helped by the compressed yet powerful production, almost reminiscent of Assuck (fucking umlauts!) on their 'Blindspot' EP - which, coming from me, is rather high praise. Side A alone is definitely worth forking over a few bucks for the record, even if its brevity may frustrate you a bit.

Oh, I almost forgot... there's a Side B to this thing. A band hailing from Finland, with "goat" in their name, will of course be immediately associated (by the kind of people who would bother reading my review) with black/death legends Archgoat. And yes, there is a certain passing similarity here, although Goatsodomy seem to follow a bit more of a minimalistic, punk-ish approach as compared with AG's slightly more modern (as in early-90's rather than 80's) style. Appropriately, this brings their music more in line with that of their split-mates - like the Nunslaughter tracks, these 3 brief tunes could have easily been spewed from some dingy basement circa 1988. That old-school vibe is honestly the main attraction here, since the material itself is nothing extraordinary, merely an enjoyable listen for those who appreciate this kind of stuff in general. As I've indicated already, the A-side of this split rather overshadows the B-side, even if the quality level is close enough not to be a serious letdown. So ultimately, the value of acquiring the record comes down to how much you dig Nunslaughter and/or how many of their releases you happen to own - if you're a confirmed (or aspiring) fan of these guys, then there's probably room for one more on your shelf.