Bite Down

Meet Me at the Bottom (2010)

Brian Shultz

This riotous compilation presents some new recordings from Belgian hardcore act Bite Down in the form of Meet Me at the Bottom, then tacks on the entirety of their solid 2009 7", Doomsday Machine.

Meet Me at the Bottom is basic but occasionally brutal stuff. Bite Down play quick and dirty powerviolence (as if there were any other kind), with a throaty, lower-end, scratchy bark over it all. They're at their best when they at least have a little room to stretch out, as on the minute-long, shred-amended "Laid to Waste". Early Ceremony's an undeniably lazy comparison (especially since the respective vocal deliveries are wildly different), but with "Evolutionary Handicap" a minute and 15 seconds of a prolonged bass dirge before a short ten-second, blasted burst (and then 20 seconds of feedback), it sometimes feels apt. A sudden double-bass roll in "Saturn Eating Son" gives them some late brutality.

Doomsday Machine, actually much less tied down to the style's limitations (and given a much fuzzier recording), was reviewed back here. Short version: "reminds me of Warzone in some weird way…sometimes makes me think of a really young CIV singing for a "Macho Insecurity"-esque Dead Kennedys."

Blindlingly short, but fast and furious, too. If you dig clearer-minded powerviolence stuff with the occasional stray-away, check Meet Me at the Bottom. If you like your stuff a little slower and more raw (but still '80s-indebted), go for Doomsday Machine.

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The Shallow and the End [Meet Me at the Bottom]
Laid to Waste [Meet Me at the Bottom]
Legal Jerk Off [Meet Me at the Bottom]
Saturn Eating Son [Meet Me at the Bottom]