CoC : Rabies Caste / Sourvein

Rabies Caste / Sourvein - _Split_
(Dada Drumming, 2005)
by: T. DePalma (no rating)

The lovely silk-screened jacket of this split houses a sky blue 7" featuring tracks by both the above bands, who, in turn, seem to be playing several songs by other unadvertised parties. This being what it is, it's hard to gauge the potential of New Orleans' Sourvein, a medley of familiar artists including Liz Buckingham of Electric Wizard, who arrive playing a lackluster cover of Eyehategod covering Pentagram's "Forever My Queen"; swallowing those junkie sludge rhythms for their own amusement before moving on to the debased melancholy of "Gone". Although pivoting into fun hyper rock detours undermines the reckless quality of its moody dirges, peppered by black metal straining rasps, the song is a decent ride. And having absolutely no need to listen to it again, the flipside of this disc introduces Israel's Rabies Caste, offering a minimal pentatonic sound dungeon in "Timeless". Being not too dissimilar from other bands invested in the scream-doom niche, the Caste's projectile vocals become absorbed by the rusted ensemble's screeching advance, plodding along in miserable efficacy. While this release feels terminally lop-sided, there are at least six minutes of good material serving as a decent sampler; but otherwise it doesn't offer much more except continued argument that Billy Anderson is the ideal producer for such carcinogenic export.

Contact: http://www.dadadrumming.org

(article published 2/12/2005)