Eat. Sleep. Suplex. Repeat. If Brock Lesnar were to have had a soundtrack to compliment the vicious beatdown he gave John Cena a few weeks ago at Summerslam, this would have been the EP played.
California Kings, Xibalba, and New Jersey's Finest, Suburban Scum, bring one heavy hitting release to 2014 with this Split. The EP was released on May 13th by Closed Casket Activities, both digitally and on 12″ vinyl. Coming from Xibalba’s 2012 album Hasta La Muerte (released through Southern Lord) and Suburban Scum's last release in 2012 entitled Hanging By A Thread (released through 6131 Records) I was eager to hear what they would come up with for this. I was more than satisfied. This is simply nectar from the mosh gods.
Xibalba kick off first and foremost with very doomy vibes. However, this swiftly gets kicked in the teeth as you're brought back to what you're used to with Xibalba. Real heavy, metallic hardcore. The song carries a guitar tone brought to you from the depths of hell and a mid-section that will have you headbanging until your neck snaps and your head rolls into the flames below. The beatdown is an intense ground and pound. Austin 3:16 says he has just whooped your ass when this kicks in and that's the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so. What I'm trying to say is, Death Threat will have you giving your grandmother a Sweet Chin Music and her puppy an RKO.
In coalition with the name of the second song, you should definitely be writing yourself a Suicide Note if you're going to be hearing this live anytime soon. This'll have everyone who pits in your scene starting a Lumberjack Match. Suddenly all of your friends will be showing you their best impersonations of Dean Ambrose, The Unstable One. The crunching riff and continuing double kick drum will have you spinning your weave into an apocalyptic frenzy. This is Xibalba at their best, doing WHAT they do best, playing straight up tough guy music. The beatdown is very subtly dropped in out of nowhere, blitzing your eardrums. Although a very repetitive palm muted riff, it doesn't take away the fact that you will also be repetitively punching, kicking and headbutting your way through whatever finds it's way in your path the second it starts. For the remaining duration of the song, you'll be left headbanging through the long crunching doomy riff and at times, throwing more punches when the tempo drops.
Xibalba do give their all in these two songs, putting in an extremely impressive effort. This side of the split should definitely leave you feeling moist at the thought of what will come next from these Californian legends.
Next we have our New Jersey Royals Suburban Scum who bless us straight off the dart with massive chuggy guitar riffs and hammering blows in their Intro, transitioning perfectly into Misery Loves Company. This is as straight up hardcore as new hardcore gets. Suburban Scum carry on with their head-on heavy hardcore in comparison to Xibalba's heavy but very metal influenced hardcore. The angry yelling vocals carries the aggressive vibes in an instrumental which sums up the Attitude Era in the form of guitar, drums and bass. The beatdown kicks in about two thirds of the way through and very soon you start to feel the pain they've caused.
Last but very certainly not least we hear Refuse To Suffer. This title is certainly lived up to from the initial chord being struck, having you want to throw yourself into every side of the crowd and turn a venue into the Octagon and start a UFC Main Event. From start to finish this is simply just no bullshit hardcore. If you're not stagediving or busting a move then you should really question what you ARE doing. This would have the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, dancing for days.
The total run time of this split is 23 minutes. 23 solid minutes of bedroom moshing. If you haven't heard this already, get listening now. You can buy this on the Closed Casket Activities bandcamp! There's no other way to describe this Split than just pure mosh meat. If you don't feel like Ultimate Warrior after hearing this, I pity you.
Until next time, folks. In the words of good ol' Dr. Nick Riviera, Goodbye Everybody!
What did you think of this Split? Did you enjoy one side more than the other? Did you love both? Did you mosh? Did you hate it? Let me know in the comments section!
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