BEARTRAP / HUMMINGBIRD OF DEATH - Split-5"

12 songs
1:50 minutes
***** *****
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Beartrap page / HoD page

I don’t know if this record is the reviewer’s dream or his nightmare? Two bands from the USA have collaborated on this exotic split-5" vinyl record to unleash some ultra-fierce fastcore that will leave you flabbergasted. I am in the presence of the digital edition and am already quite exhausted to follow the songs, all of which are over in under two minutes. On the Lilliputian vinyl record, this means you have to flip the record after fifty-something seconds.

Beartrap from Boston, Massachusetts are the epic band here, as they fill their short minute with five tracks. The B-side will be even more extreme, but more about that later. The thing is that Beartrap don’t even sound half bad. Their ultra-fast and wicked music owes actually more to hardcore infused punk than to metallic grindcore. At times they recall the early Eighties American hardcore sound, and you find yourself rather sad when their minute is already over.

Hummingbird Of Death are three wild men from Idaho, and even though my digital edition says there are seven songs, there are actually ten. Some of them are just too short to let them stand on a single track. Hummingbird Of Death are primitive as fuck, fast as the Devil, and sound more down-tuned than their predecessors.

In the end, both bands leave you wanting for more, and what kind of band would that be that leaves you disgusted after not even a minute. I give the maximum rating, just for the hell of it! Of course this is not the best music I have ever heard, but as an artist, you have to have the balls to release such a short record, co-released on at least four different record labels. This is the perfect soundtrack for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.