THE AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED/THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE

I'm similarly conflicted about Agoraphobic Nosebleed's side of this 7-inch split with Toronto power violence revivalists The Endless Blockade. Since their split with Apartment 213, Nosebleed have been drifting further and further from the microgrind mindfucks that they popularized at the start of the new millennium. I'm all for experimentalism, especially from someone as preternaturally talented as Scott Hull, it feels like Nosebleed has suffered and lost focus the more successful Pig Destroyer has become.

The 7-inch was the world's introduction to new vocalist Katherine Katz and she dominates the first two songs, "Spielberg Summer Blockbuster Snuff" and "One Nation Under Z.O.G.," both of which feature some classic ANb random assault rifle spray style machine grind, but buried between pseudo sludge meanderings that never seem to decide on a destination. Spoken word free association rant "Sand Worm/Improvised Explosive Dismemberment" easily could have been lifted from one of the interludes on Altered States of America and features some of J. Randall’s most beautifully psychotic ramblings since that album. "Cum shot in the eye of Allah/ American GI caught jerking off/ Inside a mosque/ His head separated from his body/ Like the church from the state" is pure genius and better and more focused than any of the cheap misogyny shock tactics on Agorapocalypse.

While Nosebleed's half may be a mixed bag of caviar and rotted veggies, The Endless Blockade easily make this EP worth the $6 bucks. The Toronto noisemongers savagely beat and fuck (not necessarily in that order) everything their electronically augmented Godflesh jello wrestling Man is the Bastard at a Capitalist Casualties basement show. "93 93/93" stomps, chuffs, grinds and stops again in the space of about 90 seconds while “Hangman” ponderously surveys the landscape against a backdrop of electronic menace. As with Primitive's "Perfection", The Endless Blockade’s “Phantoms” out-Nosebleeds the masters with a dick-in-the-electrical-socket rant while every hair on your body spits arcs and sparks and where Jello Biafra got the honors on Primitive, The Endless Blockade rodeo Mick Harris into screeching out the vocals on the latest version of their ubiquitous, eponymous tune.

The Endless Blockade don't stray far from the sound they perfected on Primitive, but their half of the split shows them steadily refining the elements, demonstrating why they are clearly the leaders of the power violence renaissance.

Andrew Childers (courtesy of the Grind & Punishment blog)

A tasty little 7? slab o' wax hot off the presses over at Chez Relapse, this split release features (what I assume to be) three new songs from Virginia grinders Agoraphobic Nosebleed and a handful of tracks from Toronto's The Endless Blockade (perhaps that city’s best kept secret this side of Moe Panzer's Deli up at Bathurst and Wilson – nah, actually way better than that).

ANb's side is a beautiful thing. Kicking off with "Speilberg Summer Blockbuster Snuff," new(ish) vocalist Katherine Katz is in fine form here, leading the troops to war in convincing fashion. It's the side's third track, entitled "Sand Work/Improvised Explosive Dismemberment," that really makes the most impact however. The song has no guitars, instead a smattering of experimental white noise shrouds the track's drumming, which has a slight militaristic feel that matches the political vitriol being spewed out by Jay Randall. Not a typical ANb song – not that there's ever been one – but a worthwhile one nonetheless.

Onto their Canadian counterparts on the flip side… Six tracks from the Toronto grinders, including a five-second megablast named after the band themselves (a track that appears over and over on almost every release they've ever put out, apparently as tribute to SOB). These guys have never disappointed me yet and their half-dozen on here would be more than enough reason for me to buy this alone. I don't know what the hell they are singing about, as usual, but they have enough swing in their metal/punk hybrid that I can't listen to their allotted six minutes only once. I even dig their powernoise final track "Phantoms," which comes across like an early Whitehouse-inspired blast of harsh shouting and power electronics. A "Mick Harris" does vocals on one track too – n0 idea if this is the former Napalm Death/Scorn/Lull member or not but if it is that would be hella cool.

Like most Relapse 7"s, this baby is limited. It's been released in a one-time pressing of 1000 copies, 500 of which are black and the other half are baby blue vinyl. That probably means collector scum will be buying one of each, making it even harder to find this sick little sucker, so it's probably best to pick this one up first chance you can. This one's a keeper and one that would be a shame to miss out on. Great Mike Diana artwork on it too.

9.5

Sean Palmerston (courtesy of the Hellbound.ca website)