Search - Burmese, Fistula :: Split CD

Fistula 1, burmese 0.

Mr. M. C. Hood | Bury St Edmunds, England | 04/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Fistula are f***ing brilliant. They create a twisted sludgy din not unlike the ultra grimy swamp metal of weedeater, all southern sounding eyehategod worshipping riffs and chaotic drumming topped off by screeched tar-lunged vokills. Yet they take the blues-doom sound and make it their own by keeping one eye on the proggier side of greg andersons mighty southern lord roster incorporating plenty of moaning feedback and spaced-out guitar effects into their murky dissonance. For example, Intro `green lung' conjures images of dodgy bongzilla clones whereas in reality it is an inspired piece of ultra heavy doom riffing and clever, yet fetid sounding, tape manipulations of folk coughing their lungs up. Songs twist and bend through time changes from the crusty, grinding thrash of `the basilisk' to the khanate paced psychedelia of `powers that be' and riffs dylan carlson would be proud of batter your brain in a barrage of barbiturate-fuelled malevolence. Fistula make an inspired racket of evil sludge-punk with enough experimental flourishes to identify their own sound whilst still managing to retain a strong enough southern groove to keep your head nodding throughout.



Burmese on the other hand are a strange one. Apparently this is grind. But with a production job that makes mortician sound as clear as a mountain stream and constant wails of screeching banshee-like static its hard to really hear whats going on. I think I can make out some thumping rhythms in the almost impenetrable wall of industrial chaos and the singer is audible at certain points but I am having trouble deciphering any actual riffs. their sound is a mixture of bass heavy low end rumble and crazy high pitched white noise set to a drum machine. I cant really get into the musical side of this palehorse/merzbow/venetian snares concoction of ultra power violence but I suppose you have to admire them for being just about the most extreme/unlistenable band ever.

"