Antigama / Third Degree / Herman Rarebell - The World Will Fall Soon and We All Will Die
Polish metal week grinds on, so to speak, with this 2004 three-way split on Selfmadegod, the big name in Polish grindcore. Let’s face it, grindcore’s typical 30 songs in 30 minutes can get old fast, so mixing up bands adds much-needed variety. Antigama, Third Degree, and Herman Rarebell are all key players in Polish grind, so this split is a good introduction to that scene.
Antigama – QuestionsThird Degree – The ToleranceHerman Rarebell – Aftermath
As the most well-known Polish grind act, Antigama leads off this disc with six tracks. The band doesn’t reach the jazz-like complexity of its later releases (its new album, Resonance, on Relapse is absolutely crushing), though hints of it surface here. Songs churn like locomotives, but with strange angles and accents, as if machinery simultaneously undertook self-examination and forward movement.
Third Degree is more straightforward, but no less skull-cracking, with dark melodies bubbling up among clattering blastbeats. The band has just finished its second album, which should come out this summer.
Why any band would name itself after the drummer for the Scorpions is beyond me. But given Ed Gein and Tia Carrera, I suppose that any celebrity is fair game for a namesake. This Herman Rarebell, who is lending its singer to Third Degree, spews forth old-school grind with papa bear/little bear vocals and raw, hairy production.
You can find this split at Willowtip and Selfmadegod.
