Review Summary: Chris Dodge and Dave Witte, a match made in grindcore heaven.
Saying that this is a extreme album, is the biggest understatement you can make when talking about East West Blast Test. 27 songs, 17 minutes and only 2 songs that go past 1 minute. This is full blown experimental grindcore. Never the same, insanely fast and over before you can teach your grandmother to say East West Blast Test.
As the inlay of East West Blast Test says East West Blast Test consists of only two persons. Chris Dodge, who does all the instruments except drums and Dave Witte, who does drums. Both these guys aren’t unknown names in the music scene. Dave Witte is known for his work with Burnt By The Sun, Discordance Axis and Municipal Waste. Chris Dodge is the owner of Slap-a-Ham Records and has played with Spazz and Lack of Interest. Having Dave Witte on board means that this album has some of the sickest drumming you will ever here on any metal recording.
Half of the songs on this album are instrumentals and the other half have vocals or something that sounds like vocals. Mike Patton’s Fantomas style vocals in ‘Beaver’, hardcore screams in ‘Parts of a Pipe’, death metal grunts in ‘Retort’ or just chanting ‘ayayayayaya’ in ‘Agouti’, the vocals are never the same. And when trying to imaging what this sounds like musically, think of Fantomas without the electronics and you’ll be on your way. Mix in some saxophone, some Burnt By The Sun, some Discharge and you’re there.
Production wise this sounds a bit like Burnt By The Sun’s Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution, which is great because this kind of experimental grindcore can turn into an indistinguishable wall of sound if the production isn’t any good. In this case that means you will be listening to 27 of the best grindcore gems out there instead of just 17 minutes of noise.
As this album is over before I can finish this review there is no need to prolong the agony of writing and not listening to every nuance of this awesome record. Go and check this out.
