Stheno & Grassroll

Apparently, Greece is not only about myths and legends, but also about cool grindcore bands! I was very interested in this split and I was really looking forward to it. Mostly because I was interested in Stheno's stuff on this split. And, well, I can't say that I'm disappointed, but I got used to the fact that Greek musicians always make awesome and stylish arts (even on grindcore releases), but here we can see "usual" crust-art with a lot of "war things", destruction and humanity's being crippled. But, as we all know, don't judge the book by its cover.
I should note the intro here, which starts very unique (I can hardly remember where I've heard something like that). First you'll hear woman's singing (if you remember Gregorian, here is the similar thing), but then this sweet melody is being ripped of by machine gun and then Stheno takes over the show.
I listened to their first EP (which was very much black metal influenced) and here on this split we can hear somewhat different material. There's a lot less black metal in their music and more like crust-punk. Also you know how a lot of crust bands with weak slimsy sound, but here the sound is very solid and crushing. More metallic sound adds up to the heaviness and brutality of their songs.
Grassroll is a band I've never heard of until today. I browsed the Internet and found out that there's a girl on vocals with pretty harsh voice, but firstly I thought there's surely a man screaming in these songs. But compared to their compatriots Stheno they have more punk-directed sound. But I can't really say there is all-classic crust, 'cause, you know, Greeks like experiments, hehe. On par with crust riffs, they use a lot of hardcore riffs, which adds up to the overall sound and style.
I think this split is pretty good, maybe it's because there's 8 songs, and if you didn't know already, 8 is a lucky number in Japan)

Rating: 8/10     Stheno fb   Grassroll    EveryDayHate