Our first review, from Crucial Blast:
SAME-SEX DICTATOR / REQUIN split 7 INCH VINYL (Artificial Limb Co.) 5.98
Haven't heard anything new from Seattle's Same-Sex Dictator since they put that self-released cd-r out a while back, but I thought that the band's brand of proggy yet punishing crust/grind was a big evolutionary step forward from the uber-challenging art-crust of the members previous band Gods Among Men. They 've been working, though, and the fruits of recent labors have manifested themselves in this brand spankin' new EP that features a new track from Same Sex Dictator on one side, their best yet in my opinion, and some buddies of theirs named Requin on the other spewing out some nicely nasty math-ed out hardcore ugliness.
Same-Sex Dictator bust out one new track, "Eight: From Meal TO Bait"... it's a real chunky bit of proggy deathcrust that sounds to me like a mutant hybrid of Man Is The Bastard and some cult early 80's heavy metal, one second battering your skull in with gnarly angular bass riffun guye, the next lurching into a quasi-gallop that drunkenly thrashes around for a minute or two before tumbling back into a swarm of chirping electronic noise, bestial death metal growls and jagged ultra-heavy bass. One of the heaviest pieces of music that these guys (who now seem to be pared down to a drums and bass duo) have coughed up so far.
Requin was a new one for me,but their two songs on this 7" are thoroughly ripping, both of 'em tapping into a bit of that early Coalesce sound but with the Black Flag dial turned all the way UP. Skronky angular guitars, howling pissed-off vocals, weirdo riff arrangements that suddenly drop into a crushing groove with all of the force of a Ford F-150 plowing into a shopping cart, and with some brief-but-cool glimpses all the way at the end of some jangly math rock guitar sounds that are gone before you even realize it. Pretty rad, and very ugly, just the way that I like this sort of stuff.
Comes in a recycled heavy cardstock jacket with cool artwork by Aaron Edge, and each copy is hand-numbered out of 300. Oh, and recorded and endorsed by the mighty Tad Doyle, too!
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