So you know the story; you wait all your life for a band to sing about zombies and the living dead tearing at your flesh and then two come along at the same time! However, unlike the number 33 bus to Castlefield this is not just a small annoyance that makes you grumble all the way to work.
Having the two main purveyors of Zombie Core on one album however may not have been the best idea, as it does lead the listener to compare the two bands and as I shall probably demonstrate later in this review; one tears the flesh from the other and eats it's brains.
Zombie Apocalypse kick the proceedings off with 'Just Meat' that starts with a sample before kicking in with a big fat riff and 48 seconds later it's over. You've missed something and going back to listen again doesn't help. That is the main problem with Zombie Apocalypse; for a band that includes the members it does you would expect more from them.
Every song just seems to fly by without ever really hooking you in. In a genre like hardcore where very little original sounds are emanating at the moment, you would hope an idea like zombies would help to create something more, sadly Zombie Apocalypse fail to do so and by the time 'Tale Told By A Dead Man' has finished tinkering about on the piano leading to Tales Told By Dead Men reaching the middle point has caused the album to really suffer.
However after a short 20 second break in the music Tales Told By Dead Men resurrects and staggers forth from the grave that this album had been placed in the form of Send More Paramedics.
Send More Paramedics are by far the best band in UK hardcore at the moment; and with the five songs here they push them themselves way beyond second place. Starting with 'From the Void' the band showcase their distinctive sound of Slayer sized riffs, horror movie atmosphere and in B'Hellmouth the band have one of the most distinctive vocals around at this moment. The band has the ability to make almost every chorus a sing along with an almost distinct ease.
Any band that can somehow reference Lucio Fulci's classic Zombi 2 (Zombie/Zombie Flesh Eaters) shark sequence and make it as good as 'Zombie Versus Shark' has to be congratulated for the sheer creativeness of it all. 'Nothing Tastes Like This' could possibly become as big of a hit for the band as their real standout song from The Hallowed and The Heathen 'Zombie Crew'. Less of a sing along until the end, this song is the one song of theirs on the split to really show off Medico's guitar skills to the full whilst building a sense of dread throughout the song before reaching the final refrain of 'Nothing Tastes Like This'.
So this is a split of two halves, Zombie Apocalypse struggle to really make an impact before Send More Paramedics break through the barricades you've made and eat you alive. And that is the failing of Tales Told by Dead Men; Send More Paramedics sadly make Zombie Apocalypse seem redundant and unoriginal, taking away from the joy of having two bands singing about zombies.
