Plenty of great short records this year, splits, EPs and one sided 12"s are a completely different game to full length albums and there have been a few great examples of this.
- Corrupted - An Island Insane 7" / Vasana 7" HG Fact
The Japanese doom legends return with a pair of quite difficult to get hold of, but incredible 7"s. Released mailorder only by HG fact, in specially designed mailers that held the two records in solid black sleeves. Taken together these records sound like a condensed evolution of Corrupted's earlier work, steering clear of the epic expanse of 'El Mundo Frio', which basically means that we get manageable 5/6 minute chunks of Corrupted. Which is good news because it means leaden riffs, inhuman vocals and walls of perfectly sculpted noise. Vasana features an echoed clean guitar lead in part 1 before descending into awkwardly melodic dirge on the second side. It works perfectly and is the strongest of the 2 records. Corrupted rarely go wrong, each new record just seems to add a layer of excellence, and while I prefer the stronger riffs of 'Dios Injusto' and 'Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos', 'Vasana' is probably my favourite short record this year.
Released as an accompaniment to arty/culture mag Soft Targets, Mick Barr gives his attention back to Orthrelm for the first time since the painfully intense 'Ov'. First impressions are really all to do with the concept of this record, because it is a Pink 5" with 105 seconds of music. Musically its closer to 'Asristir Vieldroix' and Octis than 'Ov' or even the split with Behold...the Arctopus, almost by definition according to the miniature track lengths. So we get about a minute and a half of blistering technicality, over what sounds this time like a pounding drum machine. An essential accessory really, though I wish my record player was more inclined to play this.
Reviewed earlier in the year, and just as good as it was then. 'Son of Son of Man' seems to be the very clear favourite however, the slightly more oddball beats of 'I am This' are proving to be less addictive than the twisted muscular groove of 'Son of...'. Things are looking very good for Coalesce right now, though less re-releases and treading of water would be much appreciated.
One of many split records released by both Striborg and Xasthur in recent years, though this split managed to turn the tables with both Sin Nanna and Malefic contributing material completely unreflective of their recent albums. To put that better, 'Defective Epitaph' is excellent, the Xasthur track here is weak and derivative. 'Ghostwoodlands' was a bit of a let down from Striborg, yet 'The Epitome of Misanthropy' is brilliant. Shambolic, tinny and nasty; it sounds incredible. The key is however the sweet and melancholic melody on an out of tune piano that plays over the outro, which works so perfectly you don't want it to stop. Certainly the best Striborg track this year.
There have been many more interesting releases this year, I'm not going to list everything that i picked up, as little as it was, because this is really about what was best, or just struck a chord with me. Or even got me into something new. The Corrupted and Xasthur/Striborg records are sold out at source now. The split comes up on eBay quite frequently, but I have yet to see a copy of the Corrupted records. Good luck...
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