Discordance Axis / Corrupted / 324

This is a very interesting 3-way split between some of Japan’s greater bands. It starts with Amazing ultra-fast grindcore, then goes strait into some great slow-as-hell sludge, then right back to some grind/death. Although all of these bands are good, they really don’t mix too well when you put them together, Discordance Axis’s half gets you all hyped up with some good grind but then almost immediately afterwards Corrupted chime in with their signature brand of droney, doomey, sludge which really changes the mood and once your used to that, 324 blasts through with some death/grind and speeds things up again.

The cd starts off with one of my favorite grindcore acts Discordance Axis blazing away with their usual antics: lightning-fast guitar-work, shrieking vocals, and utterly chaotic drums. While these two tracks aren’t as good as their work on The Inalienable Dreamless or Jouhou they still bring their usual grindcore mastery to the table. Jon’s Shrieks are somewhat less high pitched and extreme as they are in his other works, yet he is definitely not lacking the vocal prowess he has exhibited in other albums. Rob and Steve are up to their usual routine as well, fast and chaotic grindcore riffs with occasional slower catchier moments. And where would D-A be without their drummer Dave who never fails to keep up with the band yet still brings some great chaotic drumming to the table instead of the usual “hit the drums as fast as you can over and over to just make a fast tempo for the band” like so many of the lesser grindcore acts rely on nowadays. The only problem with these two tracks is that like most grindcore its over before it even began.

Now its Corrupted’s turn and even though this is a 3-way split, Corrupted still end up owning more than 60% of the album’s playing time. Now Corrupted aren’t your average sludge band, with the music crawling along at a painfully slow pace that would almost appeal more to the drone fan than your average sludge fan. While the songs aren’t as mind-numbingly slow as say an Earth or SunnO))) song (which in my opinion is a good thing considering the other bands on this split) they still have and extremely thick and crushing atmosphere to them. Great sludgey guitars and bass, heavily distorted raspy growled vocals compliment the music’s tone very nicely. Drums are not much to speak of (as is with most slower doom metal). Good stuff overall especially if you’re a fan of the more extreme sides of doom and sludge.

Now after what seems like an eternity 324 get their turn to play, and while they’re not a bad band per say they sure are the weakest band on this split. The band actually plays a fairly good style of death/grind, distorted guitars with plenty of good riffs, decent drumming and good bass. The one thing that really gets to me is the Vocals; Masao pulls off a kind of half yell/half growl that in my opinion really doesn’t flow too well with the death/grind that the band plays. I’d rather have some good grunts or screams than his half-assed attempts at them. But for the rest, 324 still bring some great death/grind to the table, the last of their songs being the best, very catchy and somewhat groovy.

So in short, three good bands 2 fast and one slow. The styles conflict somewhat on this album but its still great. Fans of grind, doom, or even both should all check this split out.