Artist: All Falls Down / Reanima
Title: Split
Type: EP
Label: Unundeux

Introducing two bands who both are out to make as much of a racket as possible in the short period of time they have. Over three tracks each, they both succeed quite admirably as well. First up we have All Falls Down who run a ring a ring a roses around things with jaw dropping technical grind and shredding that simply leaves you dizzy. Hailing from Linz in Austria the band describe themselves as “a breed of pure chaos, hate and antipathy” and as ‘The Tongue Of A Martyr’ screams in courtesy of throat ripping yells from Thomas Gasperlmair and the technical fretboard gymnastics that seemingly randomly flail all over the place you are certainly noting the chaos. This goes so haywire it sounds like a metal ball at warp speed hitting every buffer on the pinboard table. It is pretty bewildering but it somehow gels by being so obtuse that the only possible way to make any sense of things is to try and keep up with it. Of course the fact it slows and quietly ebbs out only adds to the confusion. More of the same follows with Venice / Colma and Eugenics, I guess an ideas behind the actual narrative here is as stewed as the music itself and will make little sense. Guitars hit some really odd tones that almost leave you screaming along with the vocals at the sheer horror of what you are confronted with and the drums simply ride as roughshod as possible through the whole wreckage. This is mathematical grind of the highest form and left me as confused as the first time I watched Darren Aronofsky’s seminal Pi debut. I was always crap at maths anyway and despite not being able to fathom this monster, can quite appreciate the chaos it creates.

Calmer but only slightly, it is time to get thrown into the second of these Austrian offerings in the shape of Reanima from Vienna. First song has one of those clever titles but a good one ‘I Would Like To Kiss You, But There Is A Needle In Your Arm’ and it is obvious that this is another band designed to try and drag you through a hedge backwards. However they do so with more of a brutal death backbone about them, the guitars still throw you around and the drums thud mercilessly. Vocals are two pronged and get you in their pincers with grunts and yaps from the two singers, there are even the odd pig squeal to contend with too. Although this is easier to get into it is no less heavy and the two bands compliment each other nicely over the course of this 25 minutes (yep it’s no case of 30 second songs here). ‘Concrete’ and ‘Thanks A Bomb’ are the two other more sensible song titles from Reanima and the disc finishes in style with the sounds of war, if you made it that far and are still standing you pretty much deserve to be cut to pieces by now though . Now where’s my head, I’m sure I left it round here somewhere?

http://www.myspace.com/1allfallsdown1
http://www.myspace.com/reanima