Split 2016 Wide Open with Hadak Ura and Voice of Crows
Last April, Hadak Ura crushed my dick with their abominable concoction of black metal and grindcore Forever Dying/Forever Dead. The short album was a brief rampage of blind fury and orcish rage that tore down all opposition and salted the earth just to ensure no life would ever return. Now, the fighting Uruk-hai of grindcore have returned with a new split, and this time they’ve brought friends and some new tricks.
The front half of the Hadak Ura/Voice of Crows split is an alchemic firebomb of manic diversity. Lead track, “The Satanic Century,” ramps up the energy with a glam metal scream atop downtuned grind chugging and organic d-beat carnage in a way that certainly captures your attention. Each of the band’s remaining three tracks show off unique components of their skill set. “God Never Sleeps” features a lock-step interplay between the rhythm section that feels like it was ripped straight from a ska album before “Planned Obsolescence” buries everything in a tidal wave of landfill feedback more appropriate for a doom album from The Body. Hadak Ura finish the set strong with a bizarre hybrid of tribal drumming and churning grind more akin to noise rock than anything else. All in all, the HU half is a seething maelstrom of ugly, inky violence, and you owe it to yourself to check out this most inventive take on a genre that often refuses to experiment. It’s entirely riveting throughout.
Voice of Crows anchor their half of the split with a decidedly more conventional/punk rock take on grind. Yes, there’s blasting. Yes, there’s d-beat. Yes there’s distortion and shouting and twisting chords, but the music never strays too far from the formula. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. If the Hadak Ura half of the split is the sound of an unhinged postal working going blitzkrieg with a kukri in a costume shop, the Voice of Crows half is a hate mosh in your governmental cubicle after one final paper jam error. It’s all pretty expected, but golly does it rock!
2016 has already had its fair share of excellent short releases. You can now add another to that list. If our attention spans are truly deteriorating, at least the world of heavy music still knows how to cater to its goldfish-brained listeners. Do not miss this split.
You can download the Hadak Ura digital half of the cassette for any price here. The Voice of Crows half can be downloaded for absolutely free here. Go find Hadak Ura on Facebook and tell them the Terlet says, “Aloha.”
