Various Artists
Through Trials & Plead the Fifth - Split
Crossface (2009)
Oh for the love Mike, I need to stop swooping down on these split CDs on the promo list. I am always disappointed. I mean I try to be all for new bands and their new music but Through Trials and the Plead the Fifth are trying to battle out for being the most generic hardcore band of all time. … Read more
Various Artists
Fight Amp/Ladder Devils/Kowloon Walled City (Three-way split) Lose Lose Lose
Brutal Panda (2010)
This three-way split features the New Jersey trio Fight Amp, Philadelphia’s Ladder Devils (former members of The Minor Times), and San Francisco’s sludgy Kowloon Walled City. While the three bands play three different styles of aggressive music, the sound of the split as a whole is entirely cohesive. Lose Lose Lose collectively is a great album from the three bands. Listening to one of … Read more
Various Artists
A Death Cinematic / Sons Of Alpha Centaurii - Split
Simple Box Construction (2010)
A good split record now and then is a great concept by two collaborating outfits, and even though people might be more familiar with one of the artists or groups more so than the other, such records could (and often does) introduce people to new artists and sounds that hitherto had gone unnoticed; in the case of this split album, … Read more
Various Artists
House Of Low Culture / Mamiffer - split
Utech (2010)
Did you ever just want to pop on a record to zone out to while you are either doing work or trying to rest from some stressful situation, or, did you ever want a mellow record to start the day with or serve as a soundtrack to your latest trip? More and more I am finding these types of records … Read more
Various Artists
Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely State)/Into it. Over it. Split
Count Your Lucky Stars (2011)
There has been resurgence within the indie-emo genre lately, and these advocates of punctuation are taking cues from American Football and Sunny Day Real Estate.The A-side features Empire! Empire!’s, “If We Had Found You Any Later, You Would Have Drowned!” This murky track opens with a beautiful and bleak intro. A little over a quarter of the way into the … Read more
Various Artists
Planning For Burial / Lonesummer- Split
Music Ruins Lives (2011)
Could there possibly be any more strange a pairing than the two artists that participate in this split release? Sure, there might be; but you would be hard pressed to find such a diametrically opposed sounding pairing than this split. Where they like a similarity in sound, Lonesummer and Planning For Burial display an intriguing level of mindset synergy not … Read more
Various Artists
Airs + Lunaire Split
Independent (2011)
Airs are a band based on both sides of America. One member being in California and the other in Florida, how they get anything done is beyond me. But whatever they're doing, boy, they're doing it right. Airs manage to bridge the gap between post-rock and post-black metal and post-anything else quite effortlessly. First track "Home" sets up the release … Read more
Various Artists
Homewrecker & The Love Below - Split
A389 (2011)
A389 Records announced earlier this year the signing of Homewrecker. The band play a nasty style of hardcore with nods to powerviolence and straight out heavy hardcore. While this may sound awkward the band work in these influences in a rather seamless manner. Those who have been paying attention to the site have probably heard of The Love Below. Having … Read more
Various Artists
Backslider & Nimbus Terrifix - Split
Give Praise (2011)
I have long been a fan of the split record format for a few reasons. The simplest one being a matter of attrition—two bands, one record. Sometimes it is seasoned vets paired with upstarts, like Misery and Hellspawn. Other times it’s the covers idea—each band's songs being covers of songs originally performed by the other bands, like the BYO Records … Read more
Various Artists
Spraynard & Sundials - Split
Evil Weevil (2011)
Spraynard hail from Pennsylvania and they play a style of punk that blends the varied melodic subgenres of punk rock (East Bay, beard punk, pop punk) to create their own identity—there’s a familiarity from their influences, but it doesn’t squarely pigeonhole them under a specific label. The band utilizes up-front bass that delivers the melody while the gruff, gruff vocals … Read more
Various Artists
Grey Area & Go Rydell - Split
Black Numbers (2011)
After 10 years since their last release, Grey Area returns with 2 new songs. They’ve brought along Go Rydell—the melodic-hardcore up-and-comers who are fresh off their well received debut album. Together they deliver a powerhouse, 5-track split.Grey Area’s half has the band blistering through two melodic-hardcore, blended into pop-punk, tracks reminiscent of The Bouncing Souls mixed with Lifetime. The first … Read more
Various Artists
A.N.S. & Ramming Speed - Split
Tankcrimes (2011)
This is like a new school thrash of the titans album. Both bands have made their names being basically thrash metal bands each with their own slight twist. So you know the basics of what you're getting yourself in for. Heavy drums screaming solos and nasty beer soaked vocals. Both bands bring their best to the table and see what … Read more
Various Artists
Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire/Nesseria - Split
Throatruiner (2011)
Clinging To The Tress Of A Forest Fire (hereafter referred to as CTTTOAFF for ease) hail from Denver, Colorado and deal in heavy as hell grind in all it's misanthropic glory. Coming to my attention only recently (sorry, I completely missed the boat on this band initially), they just released this split with French group Nesseria on Throatruiner Records. About … Read more
Various Artists
Junius-Rosetta
Translation Loss (2011)
Junius and Rosetta are two odd bands to select for a split. It's hard to imagine the sonic distortion of the band behind The Galilean Satellites matching up with a band as mellow (in comparison, anyway) as Junius.Their contribution, “A Dark Day With Night,” sounds eerily ethereal; the sweet nature of the writing feels almost at odds with the sorrowful … Read more
Various Artists
Alpinist / Masakari - Split
Halo of Flies (2011)
Both Alpinist and Masakari have made alot of progress in becoming well known within the hardcore scene in a rather short period of time. Alpinist hail from Germany and over the course of 5 years have managed 2 full lengths and this split. While Masakari come out of Cleavland and have managed to release 2 EPs as well as a … Read more
Various Artists
As We Draw/Euglena/Hexis
Throatruiner (2011)
Split albums generally feature artists at their best, and when they feature artists from a strong label like Throatruiner, there's almost no way to go wrong. Though I hadn't heard two of the artists on this three-way split before, I knew I wasn't going to be left disappointed by this one.The album starts off with a pair of pieces from … Read more
Various Artists
Police Bastard & War//Plague - Attrition split LP
Profane Existence (2011)
Attrition brings together two punk bands from opposing sides of the Atlantic Ocean—England’s Police Bastard and the United States' War//Plague. Most of the material was recorded at various points in 2009 but not released on vinyl until May of 2011, when Profane Existence Records pressed up a couple thousand slabs of wax to unleash to patched-up masses. Former members of … Read more
Various Artists
Drainland / Enabler - Split EP
Halo of Flies (2012)
Splits are, in general, a simultaneously good and bad thing. For each split that flows and feels strong through out (maybe even introduces you to a new band) there are probably 10 more that feel more like a way for bands to get rid of otherwise discarded songs. So with a bit of trepidation i grabbed this split and put … Read more
