Lupara Bianca

Here's just a quick post about the cassette version of the recent Deterioration EP, "Lupara Bianca". I'm not gonna go into much detail with this one, since most of my opinions will mirror Tylers from his earlier post about this release. This is the cassette version, self released on Deterioration's own label, Shattered Dreams Productions in a run of a think 50.

This thing sold out almost as soon as it went up. I got mine from Acid Redux Productions, who were thankfully stocking a few copies. This definitely ranks as one of my favorite Deterioration releases so far. Great, heavy recording, super tight and catchy riffs and drum syncopation, good flow from track to track, and a good chunk of song writing variety. The ending to the last song, "I'm Actually Wearing A Lot Of Explosives Right Now" is one of the most intense bits of grindcore this year, totally unrelenting. I definitely have found myself returning to this tape a lot out of all the Deterioration releases I own, and will probably be on my favorites of 2018 list. These guys just can't stop!

Got a nice, to the point layout without anything flashy in the packaging. The jcard feels like its made of photocopy paper. Great sounding cassette though, undoubtably a professional dub job.

Maybe one of the best/dumbest spine fonts I've seen. You don't see many bands fuck with all lower case Times New Roman. The only thing that would have made it more extreme is Comic Sans.

Great EP from one of the best American grindcore bands. I hear that this is supposed to come out on a 7" too at some point, so if you missed out on the CD, cassette, or 8-track, keep an eye out for that.

~VII

Slowly Melting Away

A beautiful, large haul of great tapes landed in my mailbox today. Finally got my hands on some pieces I've been after for a while. This split in particular is one I was looking forward to getting the most. My appreciation for both of these brutal bands has been written on this site in the past. Here is the Deterioration/Gastroptosis split cassette, released on yellow tapes by Shattered Dreams Productions in 2016. Probably in a run of 100, give or take.

This is some of my favorite Deterioration material, all killer no filler. Kind of "duh obviously" description for their side, but the 4 songs they contribute are a smidge more ear-wormy than most of their split material. Brutal, hyper blasts with tons of catchy cymbal accents. It sounds ruthless and rageful, like someone threw an extra bit of pepper in the sauce. I love the riff at the end of "Fucked Up Device" that progressively gets slower and chuggier. Great stuff all around, Deterioration always keeps it crispy. I'm pretty happy that they did a split with one of Chris Tapo's endless amounts of goregrind bands.

Speaking of which, lets move on to Gastroptosis. One of my very favorite projects from Arizona gore master Chris Tapo. Anything involving Gastroptosis, I'm instantly on board. Genuinely angry sounding and gargantuan goregrind. No one can program some brutal drums or roar into a pitch shifted microphone like this guy. These tracks were made pretty shortly after this project started releasing stuff if I remember correctly. Nothing but quality sounds on their side too. One of the best crafters of goregrind/gorenoise doing stuff right now.

As can be expected with all Shattered Dreams Production releases, this tape is all pro. A wonderfully vibrant yellow cassette with padded logo's on each side. The J-card is full color and sturdy, and the cassette case is even in a nice, seafoam blue color.  

This also was released as a 3" CD-r, but good luck finding that one. I think there was only 28 copies made. I'm definitely keen on snagging that too, haha. It's a sickness what can I say. Anyway, this is a great split and I recommend it, duh.

~VII

Radiation Mutation

First post of the new year! I'm not really much for resolutions and all that malarky, but I do intend to increase my productivity on this blog, and already a steady stream of interesting tapes and records are coming my way. Maybe some interviews will start actually happening too, who knows. Let's just get right into the real meat of this post though, and talk about this Cystoblastosis/Deterioration split tape I picked up last year. Not sure how many copies were made, but there are a few different variants over the three labels that put it out; Thoracopagus Records, Grindfather Productions, and Shattered Dreams Productions.

I finally got to witness Deterioration for the first time last year and it was probably the best grindcore set I've ever seen. It was a pure, angry grind barrage and they stopped maybe twice their whole set. I was floored from beginning to end. This is one of the new recordings to have a bassist on it and as usual the band delivers. Brutal riffs and screams, constant blast beats, in your face genuine grindcore. With the bands usual presence of charm of course. The opening of "Beat That Nerd To Death" is pure genius, you have to hear it for yourself. Theirs also an excruciatingly long field recording of all of them eating into a microphone, which almost makes me gag. Killer stuff as always, y'all already know!

Some of you may or may not know Cystoblastosis; a brutal mince/goregrind band from Russia that has been really kicking ass the past couple of years. Their releases perfectly blend the line of having quite good recordings, but still managing to have a pretty vicious and raw sound. Playing to their strengths and delivering quality gore! You'll find all the mince riffs you could want, with the frantic and spontaneous energy to match. It's simple and familiar, but very strong. This stuff is genuine as hell, and definitely checks all the marks I look for in this kind of grind. Everyone should definitely check out Cystoblastosis, snare drum ring on!!

I'm not sure if this is the Shattered Dreams version or the Grindfather one. It's definitely not the Thoracopagus edition, that one has slightly different cover art. The packaging is crispy as hell, with a nice multiple panel J-card printed on very sturdy card stock. The dub is pretty good, not great. The snare drum is really buried on my copy, which is a pity because both bands have quite favorable snare sounds. I can live with it though, it's still good.

There will probably be quite a lot more Deterioration posts this year, and hopefully some more Cystoblastosis ones. If we all aren't blown up that is. Welcome to planet Earth everyone!

~VII