X-Torsion is a very nice band which is based in Barcelona,Spain. Their previous album Odio Eterno was really nice, but it has been a couple of years since that album was released, and now our Spanish friends are back to treat us with a new and badass album. That new album will fill your heart up with a nasty punk groove and with a lot of crushing grind outbursts. Like in previous things the cover art for this album has the same style. This cover seems to me like a piece of a cartoon or something like that. It`s lovely and no too serious… Hard to imagine what is hidden under that art.
When I started to listen to this album I couldn't avoid the fact that X-Torsion did some small but good changes. The first noticeable change is hidden in song structures. These songs became more brutal, with more grindcore aggression and primitiveness. Loud blast beats, angry vocals and short guitar riffs. The second pleasant accentuation is about great melodic guitar solos and riffs (like in songs such as Contaminacion and Anulacion De La Vida). This crust/hardcore/grind madness has a very cool balance. These songs are not boring, some of them are short and fast (they sounds more like grindcore), some have a great punk spirit (which can drive you crazy) and of course theres some songs with dark and beautiful melodies. I guess many of the crust/grind fans will deeply dig into this album, because you deserve for it.
Rating: 8.5/10 X Torsion bc X Torsion fb
Buy this stuff at Sengaja records!
Honestly speaking, this split was one of those 2015 releases which I was waiting for. And after I finally listened to it, I realized that waiting was not for nothing! So I will not go into long introduction, I'll start right on the part of the Spanish...
X-Torsion already has one full-length album behind, so now they decided to deliver some fresh stuff on split release. The visual part reminds of (and perhaps it is a follow up to) the first album cover art, everything with the same funny black humor of gore / horror picture. But fresh tracks surprised me, in a good way of course. The sound became a bit more aggressive and fat. It feels that the boys added more grind to this record. It goes fast and cool. Progress is visible and it is very good.
Cruel Face - Brazilian veterans. After a long break for fucking 8 years they are back in business. Brazilian visual part is rather bizarre. Huge black widow spider (with a female face) is doing some terrible things to several representatives of Homo Sapiens species)) By the way, one of the founders and the constant participant of this band is Alex from Rot (and this dude is able to cut a good riff). For this split, they recorded 4 fresh tracks... What can I say, that is strong shit. Uncomplicated rhythms easily penetrate the brain and just rip it into pieces. Of course the material is straightforward, but it is a feature of the Brazilian grindcore, for which everyone loves it.
Rating: 8/10 Cruel Face X-Torsion Sengaja Records
Spain is very rich for all kinds of talents. This wonderful country gave birth to a lot of great bands. But the most famous bands will be reviewed next time. Today, I want to put on a GGGG turntable the first album of a young band called X-torsion. If you do not take their participation in compilation into account, then OdioEterno is their first serious work. Hmmm, maybe I have to go to a psychiatrist, but the art on this album made me smile. A sort of a funny black humor half-rotten cartoon head, I could not not see anything repulsive.
The group is new to me, but after carefully listening to the album I did not find anything new. But that does not mean anything bad, I guess it is just too difficult to surprise me with the music. The mere fact that the debut album was released on vinyl is already surprising, because that is not cheap at all...
The content of black (as the old rock fan's T-shirt) is full of energy. That mix of fast hc-punk and fastcore, with some notes of grindcore - that really rocks. There are songs for any taste. Want some punk - there you go, want something harder - is also possible. The highlight for me here was the vocals. Spanish makes the music sound more angry.
Rating: 8/10 X-Torsion Buy this LP here!
