SPLITTER

Avskräckande Exemplar

Though we are still several weeks away from the official release date this album has been bombing my ear drums for a day or two and destroying my CD-player. And I just have to write the new SPLITTER review at once as the album is great though I should have left this assessment maybe for the very end. I am not afraid to say though that this deed will aerate the contemporary scene properly.
As soon as I heard the first sample I was literally amazed and listened to this new work of SPLITTER from Sweden. This very unusual & innovative concept of grind core staggered me to that extent I was impatiently looking forward to going home so I could listen to it privately.
Those, who are just getting horrified if SPLITTER did not reduce their aggressivness from the previous mini album, can calm down - they absolutely did not step back from their fierceness by one inch (25.4mm). However, in spite of that this album is different and many fans will be surprised. Would be a wonder! A piano cannot be heard in grind core very often.
The album can be simply characterised as various and inventive. None of the 21 songs, only two having more than two-minute footage, has an identical characteristic feature but the aforementioned fierceness. Each of the songs is different and they include parts that are not found very much in this genre. Mainly it is obvious in the first part where each song is an original connection of grind core brutality and techniques from a wide palette of genres. Rock techiques first then metalcore, into melodic guitar parts that we know from black metal bands. Totalkvaddad, Sjukast i Världen, Om vingar Fanns, WÍldtagen Själ, FÍgelskrämman, Den Dagligen Skiten are the songs in which this style is the most legible. Especially the song no. 3 - Livets Svarta Tunnel is so special that to describe it with the word "grind" is very bold indeed. Grindcore parts of songs and mosh songs are excellently combined with slower parts of which a lot are unusually melodic. On the other hand they look very compact and it is an uncompromising run from the beginning to the end that does not fall into inhomogenous parts. It is a real masterpiece of composer`s and arranger`s work played with a precision of matadors of extreme music. The audio aspect is a bit untraditional too. SPLITTER just sound a bit different from the usual grind production. Maybe more legible, more hardcore and more heavy but decisively to the credit of the matter. The album has a great deal of spontaneity with pure energy just radiating from it. The Swedish production cannot be denied.
The second half of the album comes slowly into a bit more traditional concept still having the trade mark Made in SPLITTER. The great finale is Utanförskapet & Jag with the piano not being a cheap effect is forming the atmosphere of the song. It will be a very interesting song live ha,ha...
I am entranced by Avskräckande Exemplar and my impression is underlined by a great elaboration of the booklet layout and perfect cover. This album does deserve listening to!