Vinyl Review: Split LP by Cloud Rat and Disrotted

Split LP

Like many other times during the past five years and now 1,000+ articles we have posted on Glacially Musical, this is a split.

Splits are nothing new and have been around for decades Typically though these releases are EPs and not LPs.

You get one or two songs by each band, half a side, and that's it. Perhaps it's simply my personal ignorance, having had an absence from the underground metal scene, but split LPs still seem a little bit on the strange side to me.

It's funny to say that because there are now several of them in my vinyl library. (Note: I don't use the term collection, because it creates a different connotation from listening to and enjoying the music contained on the discs.)

Looking at the tracklisting after finding out this record was on its way, it's only two tracks. That made me think that we were doing another 7". My first dance with Cloud Rat featured a side of "short" tracks. You may recall the Cloud Rat/Moloch split I reviewed a couple months back.

Naturally, this was a wholly incorrect assumption.

These tracks are giant slabs of red meat. The two songs clock in at an impressive forty minutes plus.

Apart from the very, very long songs, these two sides couldn't be more different if they tried.

Cloud Rat's side is fast, progressive, and in pain. The vocalist, Madison, is screaming while the guitarist, Rorik, plays these lines that never seem to repeat.

There has been a quantum leap forward in their direction in what seems to be only a matter of months. They were excellent on their previous split, but now, it's nearly unfathomable how they were able to traverse this void.

They're self-described as a grindcore/punk band, but they  have morphed into something else that I'm not sure we have a word for. Perhaps my perspective is amiss, and this was just a set of twelve 90 second grindcore tunes released in a single serving?

Either way, I'm hungry for more.

Disrotted...they are an entirely different animal than Cloud Rat.

Instead of their power coming from thunderous riffing, painful screams, and all out chaos. Their song, Dissipate, is a smoldering mass. A track about the post-apocalyptic world simmering in the aftermath of nuclear winter.

Thankfully this was not written method.

Chords ring and shake until the amps feed back. The sparse vocals rumble with the same intensity and power. It's noisy. It's hideous.

It's a dire warning in troubled times.

Both bands have their own sound and their own identity. Both groups flow well together on this split, but no one will mistake this for being a singular entity.

Once again, Halo of Flies Records, in cooperation with Dry Cough Records, has hit it out of the park on the packaging and pressing.

It's rare that my first listen to an album is on vinyl, but it would be hard to think the digital files or CD would sound anywhere this clear, this big, and this amazing.

Like the songs, the LP itself is a thick slab.

The jacket is a trifold cover and absolutely stunning. Each side of the disc has a different colored label making it easy to see which is side A and which is side B. (See video below for a better look.)

Release: Out Now
Genre: Extreme Metal
Label: Halo of Flies/Dry Cough Records
Formats: LP/Digital
Limited Edition: 200 Milky Clear (sold out)/400 black vinyl
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