I will continue to ram my local scene down everybody's goddamn throats because I'm a prideful prick like that. Today I present to you another product of Big Dick Records (the guys responsible for Smash Potater and Clocktower), Lombard, Illinois's death/grind outfit, Splatter Control. As seems to be par for the course with the people around Big Dick, there's a lot of silly humor abound with this recording. While I haven't really taken the time to sit down and decipher the low roars and figure out what the lyrics entail, I can tell by song titles like "Maxwell House of the Dead" and "Hardcore Dancing is Bad and You Should Feel Bad" coupled with samples from Billy Mays infomercials, Tommy Boy, and Futurama, that levity is probably the order of the day. These guys write and perform music because it's fun, and unless you're composing symphonies that's something that I think everybody should keep in mind.
But anyway, musically this is some great stuff. There's nothing here you haven't heard before but it's played with such fervor that it doesn't matter at all. Splatter Control is a trio made up of bassist Dan Ozcanli (who some may remember as the bassist of Clocktower), drummer Neil Schmidt, and guitarist/vocalist Brian Koz (who Facebook friends of mine will recognize as the PORQUEEEE guy from the Diamond Plate music video). It's death/grind with a heavy lean on the death metal side. The short songs and general intensity of grindcore is there, but the riffing, percussion, and vocals all tend to gravitate towards the death metal end of the spectrum. As previously mentioned, the vocals are a low, hellish roar as opposed to a more guttural growl that one would expect from the style, but it adds a great boost to the low end and frankly meshes with the blasting intensity very well. The tempo is always high, but never into the insane hyperblasting territory, and the riffing tends to wander around with chugging death metal and the occasional fast tremolo parts (like the title track, for instance). I dunno, I'll just keep blabbering in kind of not-helpful terms if I keep going, so I'll cut myself off.
Definitely give this a listen if you can, and hey, that's super easy to do because you can get it for totally free at the band's Bandcamp profile here. So yeah DO THAT. I DON'T GIVE YOU SLOTHS FREE DOWNLOADS OFTEN SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS TO SPREAD THE MUSIC.
RATING - 85%
