This tape appeared in the mail a couple of weeks ago, to my surprise. I'd contacted Scull Crasher Records sometime ago to say hi. Scull Crasher are a label and distro based in Greece, who are very much keeping the underground scene alive. The tape they sent me was the recent Jagernaut/Hello Bastard split.
For those who don't know, Jagernaut are a crust-punk band from Athens, Greece and contribute 6 songs to this split. On the other side, Hello Bastards are crust band from the UK and contribute 13 fast, filthy songs to the split. The tape was a split release across four labels, Scull Crasher Records, Noise Attack, Severed in Seconds and Alcoholic Desaster.
The tape itself is limited to 200 copies. It comes on cool green cassette, with labels on each side which include the band logo and the songs they've contributed, which is a really nice touch. There is also a printed insert, with cool black and white cover art and the song lyrics printed inside.
Tracklist:-
Jagernaut side -
1.Doombringer
2. Sprida Ordet
3. Life Means Shit
4. Vengeance
5. Asocial Norms
6. Stench of Survival
Hello Bastards side -
1. The SweatShop System
2. Empty Ideas
3. A Political Statement
4. Counterfeit Democracy
5. Straight Edge is Dead. You're Next
6. Blood on The Media
7. Peace. Justice. Freedom
8. The Open Veins of Latin America
9. Economic Oppression
10. Palestinian Holocaust
11. Way Of Life
12. You Spread Ignorance
13. Follow
So to the music. I'll start with the Jagernaut side. Doombringer is their opener and is a sampled intro that leads into a fast paced, hardcore infused crust song. Buzzsaw guitars, thrashing drums and low growls are all present. Jagernauts’ sound is more mid paced and more akin to hardcore than crust, but when they speed up, it has more of an impact, like on Sprida Ordet. The sound and production is very organic and warm, as you'd expect from a cassette. The guitars sit quite low in the mix when everything is flowing together, but on their own they're clear. The drums and vocals are more prominent, especially those crashing cymbals. The remaining songs speed past too quickly, with no songs going over 3 minutes, which adds to their impact. Final song Stench Of Survival arrives with screaming feedback before Jagernauts’ final blast hits you. This is pure head banging stuff, which has musicality as well as brutality. Awesome stuff.
So it's onto Hello Bastards side. They are immediately a faster proposition. Incredibly fast drumming and harsh dual vocals, with crustier riffs. None of their songs are over one and a half minutes long. Just listen to Empty Ideas, for a full on raging beat to the head.
Hello Bastards have strong anti-political messages, with song titles like Counterfeit Democracy and Economic Oppression helping to display their displeasure at the current world situation. No one is safe from their bile, with the Straight Edge scene even getting a verbal bashing. I really like their sound, it's angry, fast and all played by a band who are passionate about what they do. It's very different to Jagernauts' sound but that the whole point of splits, it's to bring to bands together who sound different, but share the same values. For a three piece, Hello Bastards are able to create a really heavy, meaty noise, as demonstrated in all their songs, but probably best demonstrated in Economic Oppression.
It's all over too quickly and it certainly left me wanting more. Both bands are brilliant and this is a great example of the unity between the scenes in different countries. If you can pick up a copy of this cassette, do it fast!
You can listen to this split on Scull Crasher's Bandcamp page:-
You can find out more about Jagernaut and Hello Bastards on their Facebook pages at http://www.facebook.com/Jagernautwar and http://www.facebook.com/xhellobastardsx. Both bands also have their own websites - http://jagernaut.wordpress.com and http://www.hellobastards.co.uk.
You can pick this split it from any of the four labels that helped to release it:-
Scull Crasher Records - http://scullcrasherdis.blogspot.co.uk/
Alcoholic Desaster - http://alcoholicdesaster.espiv.net/
Noise Attack - Attack-noiseattack1@gmail.com
Severed in Seconds - Severedinseconds@gmail.com
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