I don`t really know how to start with this one. This is a very noisy split tape with two bands from different corners of the world, Deathtaker from the USA and Stevo Zigon from Serbia. Both bands are new for me, so I don`t expect anything, because this is a true mystery for me. The tape looks (art, design ets) regular for hardcore/fastcore or powerviolence genre… nothing special. But everything was done really well.

Let me start with Deathtaker. This is half grindcore, half hardcore act with very dirty sound. But this is a regular blasting band… from the very beginning guys show interesting riffs and approaches (at least in the first song). Guys used a delay effect for the vocal, which makes it more unusual. Bass and guitar are heavy, and sometimes they mixed together, so it`s hard to catch each instrument, but this is noisy grind/hardcore so it`s ok… Well, this recording session contains more slow parts than fast, but I can’t say that this is the worst record that I heard. Yes, this is pretty amateurish stuff, but it sounds ok.

The second band is Stevo Zigon (guys used the name of their local actor). Musically this is a strange mix of noisecore and powerviolence. The sound is so messy, guitar, vocal and even drums are so raw, most of the time they sound like one piece. Also, the guitar has a strange tone… and I`m not sure if that is a positive thing. But the material is not so bad, I caught some good structures and riffs. But… I don`t want to be rude, this mess is too raw to my taste. But I believe noise fans will love this Serbian act.

Rating: Deathtaker 7/10     Stevo Zigon 5.5/10

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