Grievances/Quiet Hands - Split

As I continue to plough through submissions old and new, I thought I'd mix up posts and do one that I received last year and one that I received this year. This one is from last years list, which may not even be finished this year! This is the split between US hardcore band Grievances and their crust cohorts Quiet Hands. This was released in June 2012 on a 3" CD by Divine Mother Recordings.

In the past year, Grievances have played alongside Vanna amongst others and Quiet Hands have played with Fight Amp and Bone Dance, as well as many other cool bands. They're both making names for themselves in the states. Here Grievances put forward three tracks and Quiet Hands play four.

Tracklist:-

1. To Kill A Titan (Grievances)
2. Pacific Playland (Grievances)
3. Occupy The Ocean (Grievances)
4. Problem Solving (Quiet Hands)
5. Covenant of Misery (Quiet Hands)
6. Now It's Time (Quiet Hands)

7. But It's Far From Over (Quiet Hands)

Starting with the Grievances side of this split and their opening song To Kill A Titan, you're greeted by a slow, dirgy guitar intro and then POW, Grievances thrashing hardcore turns things up a notch of three! It's fast, but not warp-speed fast, so you can appreciate it without your head falling off your neck! Pacific Playland follows in very much the same vein. Occupy The Ocean has a harder and more vibrant edge. The vocals seem angrier and the pace in general, dictated by those crashing drums, definitely jolts you! It's in the same kind of ballpark as a lot of current angry hardcore, but if you like that (and I do), you'll be fine with it.

Quiet Hands wade in with Problem Solving, which is twenty six seconds of low-fi PV inspired hardcore. It blasts and then chugs. Their sound is chaotic and noisy. The semi-distant, low growls are harrowing but also the most prominent part of their sound. The guitars and drums seem to all seep into each other when they're all playing in unison. Quiet Hands do have a subtle rock n roll vibe going on in some of their riffs, like in Now It's Time. The slower, sludgy parts here are what make it for me, which won't come as any surprise.  I also like the feedback ridden sound overall that Quiet Hands possess. Last song But It's Far From Over is the longest single song on the split and it starts with an intro that's calming and that masks the impending noise terrorism, which comes from Quiet Hands. The song demonstrates more of their slower side and has a kind of black metal ambience to it, mainly in the guitar melodies, which in themselves are very subtle.

This split ends on a low note (that's good by the way). Both Grievances and Quiet Hands occupy spots within Hardcore, but as is the nature of split records, both sound very different. It's a good introduction to both bands for me and there's plenty here that others can take away. I look forward to hearing things from both bands in the future.

You can here this split below via the Divine Mother Recordings bandcamp page:-

You can either order the split from bandcamp above or by going to Divine Mother's blog at http://divinemotherrecordings.blogspot.co.uk/.

Grievances can be found at http://grievanceshc.com or at http://www.facebook.com/grievances.band2.
Quiet Hands can be found at http://www.facebook.com/QuietHands.