This is a nice little grindcore split. Loaded For Bear from the U.S. leads it off and has more of a distorted and screamy crust edge to their sound than Bizarre X from Germany. Loaded For Bear is also really enamored of using sound clips in between their stuff. In fact, I think if you added it all together, their side of the split might have more sound clips than actual music, especially when considering that three of their fourteen songs are under five seconds long. Bizarre X isn’t as heavy or intense as Loaded For Bear, which works against them and makes their side of the split feel more lackluster. What I find massively entertaining is that the songs for both bands have lyrics that are very involved and thought out, but completely unintelligible even with the lyric book. I seriously don’t know how it is they’re supposed to be saying what’s written in the lyric sheet when some of the syllable grunts end up being a couple of whole sentences. At any rate, this album is worth checking out if only to get your daily amelodic speed fix on the Loaded For Bear half, although I can’t say I’ve ever heard any grind yet that’s interesting as more than just a novelty, except for maybe The Locust.
–Adrian (On the Warpath, Backgroundnoisemediacorps, Hip Kid, One Sock)