Monday 24 June 2013

RABBITS/ÅRABROT - Split 7 Inch (Review)



















Album Type : Split 7”
Date Released : Eolian Empire (US) Fysick Format (Eur)
Label : 28/5/2013

RABBITS / ARABROT - SPLIT 7" , tracklisting:
Side A: ÅRABROT – Blood On Bunny
Side B: Rabbits  - Yr In Luck

Bio:
Pollutant Portland pack RABBITS prepare to pitch pellets at the European people as a preemptive pounce previous to their petulant split platter with pals Arabrot placates the populous.

Norway's intangible, ever-changing, and ever-strange noiseniks ÅRABROT (whose album Solar Anus won the 2011 Spellemannprisen for Norway's best metal record) meets Portland's sludge-punk kings RABBITS (whose snarling 2012 album Bite Rites made many a year-end list). As if twins separated at birth with a psychic connection that spans a continent and ocean, both acts have mired themselves in the most base elements of rock and rebuilt these primitive pieces into music of violent, raw beauty. ÅRABROT's "Blood On Bunny" (no dig at their split partners, they swear) is part industrial, part noise-rock, part sludge and all disturbing, while RABBITS's "Yr In Luck" shifts between swinging, rolling, droning verses to grinding choruses, interspersed and ending with a pummeling dirge; like two fucked-up sides of the same shitty coin. The split will be pressed on mega-heavy 70-gram wax -- a split release with Rabbits' label Eolian Empire and Arabrot's Norwegian label Fysisk Format -- and the first of a series of split-release/split 7” releases between Rabbits/Eolian and their friends from other cities/labels.

In addition, RABBITS will drop their debut album Lower Forms in a deluxe vinyl repress through Eolian Empire, licensed from Relapse. The loved/loathed debut LP from the band was initially released by Relapse in February 2011 and quickly sold out on vinyl; the repress will see a thicker 180-gram delivery. The full goddamn Lower Forms LP is now streaming at the
Eolian Empire Bandcamp.

Both records will be available in person on the RABBITS/ÅRABROT Euro tour, but if you live within the continent’s boundaries, preorders for both
the repress of Lower Forms and the new split 7” are available through Eolian ahead of their release on May 28th

Review
Yay! A new split to consume. It's an ongoing thing that I love this type of release, the spirit of collaboration. Why can't we all just love one another, man?

First side is delivered to us via Norway's noise merchants Arabrot (named after a garbage dump) and is entitled 'Blood on Bunny'.  It's a suitably mangled and raucous slice of rock, in the vein of Melvins or Unsane. It's distorted and messy and suitably heavy. The riffs sound like they are being played from inside a pressure cooker, not muffled entirely but obviously desperate to escape. The vocals are manic and are perfectly suited for this type of endeavour. The whole track is fairly batshit, in a completely beautiful way.

The real winner here though is the Rabbits contribution, 'Yr In Luck'. A noise / sludge trio from Portland, they create a wall of pure volume and then throw it at you. The main riff is so sick it might actually qualify for classification as a plague carrier. I suggest that you really crank this thing for optimum effect, that effect probably being similar to the bends. This track is a cacophony of low end crush, almost reminiscent of 'Boris', again by them Melvins boys. That got your attention, didn't it? It's THAT type of heavy. Truly magnificent.

This is a great split effort, by two really good bands. Any fan of collectible one-off vinyl audio insanity should look no further for an immediate acquisition. Track it down and grab a copy right now.

Words by : Matt Fitton

As ever, show your support to the band by checking them out at the various links.  You can buy this release here. This record is available now. Thanks as always to EarSplit PR for the hook up.