Saturday, November 14, 2015

Bandcamp Picks: The Blind Surgeons Operation/Sete Star Sept, Helmsplitter/The Communion, Depression, Cattle Decapitation



DoC friends The Blind Surgeons Operation have just released a split with grindcore darlings Sete Star Sept. Like I told TBSO's Andrew Cleveland earlier in the year, his band's style of noise/grind causes great discomfort and discombobulation; no change on that front, though this is the first release to feature a live drummer. On side B, Japan's Sete Star Sept bash out 11 tracks of their trademark bass/drums assault. Face-melting live, I'm sure, but the recording sounds like you're listening to them rehearse from a block away. [Free]



Great Violence And Hidden Depths sees IL's Helmsplitter and NY's The Communion covering every corner in heavy music. Helmsplitter's half is a love letter to all things fast and brutal, sounding like an early Nineties death metal band whose logo you would have scrawled on your notebook in high school. The Communion stick with crusty grindcore for the most part, descending into the sludge/noise abyss on the final track. In addition, the band have a video for "Hymen Balaclava" that will probably get you fired from work. [$6.66]



Germany's DEPRESSION have been around for a quarter century, flagbearers for a continental grindcore scene that never took off like its British or Swedish counterparts. Their newest album Die Dunkle Dimension is 25 tracks of simple but catchy grind, one for each year the band has been active. Fans of Phobia and ENT would do themselves a favour in searching this out. [€6]


From the chrysalis of rudimentary death/grind, Cattle Decapitation have emerged as one of the most polished death metal bands around. The Anthropocene Extinction sees the band stepping away from the technical overload of the past two albums, streamlining the songwriting but hanging on to Travis Ryan's Ozzy-ish clean singing. Song to song, this is one of the band's strongest releases to date, and one of my favourites of this year. Bonus points for the title "Pacific Grim". [$9.99]