Dephosphorus/Wake, split

What better way to get introduced to two bands I’ve never encountered before than on a split EP release? None, right. And what a fucking introduction it is! Holy Hell.

Greece’s Dephosphorus start off the split with three solid helpings of unrelenting grind. “Unit” wastes no time getting things off to a raucous start with driving rhythms, crunchy guitars and a vicious vocal delivery. It’s a track that is fairly straight forward in its presentation, but also contains enough of a head banging groove to get you ready for the rest of the album. “The Final Computronium” is a bit more developed as it builds up to a crushing blast of grind through a solid series of riffs. It’s a hell of a song. The final offering from Dephosphorus, “The Cosmologist,” is an interesting one as it starts off with spoken vocals for the first 30 seconds or so before exploding out of the speakers with thick, churning guitars and rapid fire drum work. If these three tracks are any indication of what the band has done with their other releases, it looks like I’ll be doing some purchasing soon.

Wake, hailing from Canada, deliver three songs of their own, but with a bit more of a suffocating and less open vibe as their counterparts on this split. Each track is heavily draped in buzzing textures as the vocals are more a part of the crushing din and not so much supported by it. “Society of the Gun” erupts for a solid minute and a half with non-stop aural destruction. “Thirst” keeps the vibe flowing with a wall of sonic destruction comprised of barbaric drums and crusty guitars. “Veil of Odin” wraps up the split and Wake’s contribution with a frantic blast of malevolence. The track crashes into your skull with reckless abandon for the first 50 seconds or so before settling into a crusty groove for the remaining half as the vocals deteriorate more and more until there’s nothing left but a distorted and distant scream.

This is a great split EP. It pits two like-minded bands together, yet each group delivers their style in completely different ways. On one end you have the relatively cleaner and more structured Dephosphorus and on the other the more raw and abrasive Wake. Together, playing off of one another, they shine as much as a bunch of crusty, grinding bastards can. Awesome.