Cruelle Annihilation

Now here's a good motherfucking split if I ever heard one. Canada's Cruel Fate teamed up with France's Savage Annihilation to unleash 23 minutes of death metal carnage upon the unsuspecting masses. The two bands are a good match, as they both play a somewhat similar brand of old-school death metal, and here the songs are also all in French. Cruel Fate open the hostilities with their fast, crushing death metal that sounds straight out of the depths of hell. The growls are actually quite decipherable (if you understand French well enough, of course), which is nice. I like pretty much everything here, from the buzzing guitars to the great drum work that made me take out my air drumsticks (I'm usually more of an air guitar guy). Things slide very smoothly into Savage Annihilation's half, who I find have a crunchier and more American sound overall with a nod toward a more technical style, without overdoing it. The vocals are not always as decipherable as Cruel Fate's, but close enough. Their style is more razor-sharp than Cruel Fate's muddier approach (muddier in a good way, just to make that clear). Here it's the air guitar that comes out, with the drums not quite as remarkable, though if you enjoy fast blasting drums that destroy everything in their path, you'll certainly get a kick out of this. Overall the split is good from beginning to end and very addictive. Speed, heaviness, pure fucking carnage. I could listen to this all day.