BENCH PRESS / MARTYR'S TONGUE split 7"

This is the kick in the face I needed! Music to murder to. There so much good stuff going on in this fight of a song. It has that urban murder metal swag Merauder introduced and some of the catchiness and off centred song structure Trapped Under Ice yielded (something the never got enough credit for). Hello Bench Press (Pennsylvania), nice to meet you! “Penance” is a terrifying exercise in violence, groove and some of the best riffs you’ll here in metallic hardcore today. The song falters a bit after the breakdown due to the typicalness of it, but hey, you were bleeding from the start. At least you are feeling it.
“Pissed” away ushers in faster pace, worthy of a approving nod from Ringworm and All Out War. Still, this song somehow manages stray away from genre conventions. I’m not gonna say it introduces in a new sound but it’s certainly not as predictable as I feared when it started. Good job.

Puerto Rico’s Martyr’s Tongue wast no time at all bursting out of the gate ready to fight all. I’ll venture to say their “Deconstructive Process” sounds tad conventional and Holy Terrorish but this isn’t a real problem because the vocals are something else and the brevity of the song get in the way of repetition and leaves no room for me to predict correctly what’ll happen next. “Unholy Communion” sounds unholy indeed. Blast beats, black metal influenced tremola riffs, shrieky vocals, feedback and noise give way to sludge headbangary that isn’t unfamiliar to anyone following [insert various A389 / Southern Lord bands) acts of similar ilk.
Martyr’s Tongue side suffers a bit for its production values but I prefer their roomy and trebly sound to a lot of the compressed and airless approach most metallic hardcore bands go for these days.

This split does what a split should do, and that is to introduce relatively unknown bands to people in a short format that's done walking over your miserable internet-ridden body before you are able to raise an arm to protect yourself. It’s a good first impression for anyone unwise to these bands existing and worthy of your time. [Get This Right]
- Birkir Fjalar

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