Fuck on the Beach (Japan) / Endless Swarm (Scotland) - Split 7" (2020)

 

This split was originally planned as a physical release to be sold at the cancelled Zesta Grande II grindcore & powerviolence festival in July 2020. Like that festival, which was conceived as a throwback to Spazz vocalist/bassist Chris Dodge's Fiesta Grande festival in the '90s, this release is a modern throwback to a classic era of extreme music.

Japanese fastcore/powerviolence legends Fuck on the Beach have been releasing music for 25 years, and besides an improvement in recording quality, not much has changed. They're still playing frequent shows in small Japanese venues like the legendary Earthdom (which you can support financially through a series of benefit compilations here). Though they haven't released an LP in years, they're still popping back into the studio to record splits... if not regularly, often enough to remind us they still rule. In fact, this isn't even the only split they released in 2020.

These are 5 blasts of fastcore as good as anything else in their discography. Songs like "Pay Back Money" and "Fuck Off!!!" are reminders of how good this band has always been, and make me want to marathon their full discography in the not-too-distant future. Fuck on the Beach continue to be great at what they do, and here's hoping they continue doing it for years to come.

Scottish powerviolence band Endless Swarm are the young bucks of this album, despite being 8 years deep into their career as a band. If you had told me they played 1999's Fiesta Grande alongside Fuck on the Beach I would have believed you, though, because their classic powerviolence sound belies both their era and country of origin. It's a tough spot being the lesser-known band on a split, and Endless Swarm rise to the occasion. Opener "Deep Fried" is one of the strongest tracks here, and sets the tone well for the rest of the side.

The only real drawback of this release is inherent in the form: it's 10 songs and 8 and a half minutes of music, so it takes a commitment in terms of repeat listens. For the casual fan who buys a few grindcore and powerviolence LPs a year, this may get skipped over in favor of releases with higher profiles and longer tracklists. But for true devotees of short, fast and loud, this release is worth the effort and a great addition to your music library.

You can buy the Fuck on the Beach/Endless Swarm split 7" from To Live a Lie digitally here or physically here.