Krieg/Gravecode Nebula - Split 7"

The stark silhouetted noose on the cover of this split hints at the evil inside. That evil comes in the shape of New Jersey's Krieg and Salt Lake City's Gravecode Nebula. Both bands play forms of black metal and this two song split was released by California, USA label Baneful Genesis Records. This split was actually released back in the middle of 2011 on amazing Grey w/black swirl vinyl. I was given the opportunity to write about some of Baneful's releases, so I thought I'd start with something to wet your black metal appetites/

Tracklist:-

1. Gravecode Nebula - Midas

2. Krieg - Life Is Cheap (Flipper cover)

Starting with Gravecode Nebula's song Midas, you get just over six minutes of strangely upbeat black metal. The guitars have low-down tone to them and the drums blast out an almost black "n" roll beat. It's a great departure from the usual anti-everything black metal that's piercing the underground at the moment. Gravecode Nebula slow things down to more a crawl though about two minutes in, creating more of a doom-ridden/experimental atmosphere, with some really low growls and chanting vocals over the top.  Their sound is very forward thinking overall and throws some much needed differentiation into the genre.

Krieg have a more necro sound. Life Is Cheap, which is a Flipper cover, has some really cool deep vocals, but also some almost echoed, higher vocals in the background. They are pretty strange and some people may find them grating, but then this split was never supposed to be normal! The song itself is more mid-paced, with none of the experimental dynamics that Gravecode Nebula used. Both bands certainly give a good account of themselves on here and it highlights again exactly what the split format tries to achieve. Throwing two stylistically similar bands together with different takes on the genre is a great way to get them exposure to different audiences and even though it's brief, it's well worth immersing yourself in. 

This split it streaming via the Baneful Genesis Records bandcamp page and you can hear it below:-
 

You can download this split digitally from the above bandcamp page, or you can buy one of ten remaining physical copies. I'd recommend snapping up a vinyl copy before they are gone forever, as they look awesome.

Both band have Facebook profiles so you can keep up to date with what they're doing - 
Krieg - http://www.facebook.com/officialkrieg
Gravecode Nebula - http://www.facebook.com/gravecodenebula

Baneful Genesis Records are at  http://www.banefulgenesis.com and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Baneful-Genesis-Records.