The Endless Blockade/ Bastard Noise CD Review
The Red List

Label: 20 Buck Spin

www.myspace.com/theendlessblockade
www.myspace.com/mitbnoise


By Mike Bax

This is a split album between two heavyweights of underground grindcore. Both The Endless Blockade and The Bastard Noise toured together in 2007, and talk of doing a split started in earnest. Now, over two years later, the album is a reality.

Bastard Noise are pretty damn heavy. I personally find them a bit hard to get into. Fans of Godflesh, Scorn and Fudge Tunnel will hear material they can get behind musically, but the songs are peppered with heavily distorted low end vocals that are really heavy on the Cookie Monster likeness. Add in the synthesized squelching that reminds me of air flying out of a pressure cooker, and that should give you an idea of what Bastard Noise will bestow upon your audio canals. Whether it’s your cup of tea remains to be seen.

The Endless Blockade contribute three songs,two of which clock in at fourteen and fifteen minutes in length. They play a meandering song to say the least, but I find them more accessible than Bastard Noise,most likely because the pressure cooker sound effects are omitted.

‘Deuteronomy’ spans moments of grindcore, sludgy slow metal and even a bit of punk aesthetic popped in for good measure.

Props to the two band for following through on their initial plan of collaborating on a release. Fans of the genre will likely enjoy The Red List.

File under ‘music my mom will utterly hate!’