Splag

Rise/Fall [7 inch] (2004)

hamonrye

If you ever wanted to hear Sheena Ozzella of Lemuria fame screaming her tits off over blistering hardcore riffs, now's your chance.

About three years ago, I somehow dug up homegirl's livejournal and found this band's name referenced on there. A bit creepy, I suppose, but whatever. I then made a quick purchase at Interpunk and threw this bad boy on the record player the day it arrived.

The recording itself is extremely murky, and Sheena sounds like her vocals are on 45 RPMs while Noah, the other vocalist, sounds like he's bellowing at 33 RPMs. Honestly, it sounds as if Elmo and Cookie Monster are trading call-and-response cannibalistic death screams from the depths of Jim Henson's basement while two other unnamed Muppets beat the shit out of their instruments with complete disregard for any sort of song structure. It's a bit difficult to tell where one song ends and the next begins as Sheena and Noah belch, grunt and growl their way through six songs of typical hardcore fare about macho brocore dudes in the scene, self-loathing and failed relationships.

A cathartic release that is best left unheard, this record is really rather unremarkable, except as an interesting document of one woman's earlier, more extreme attempts at playing music. There is really no reason for anyone (except, perhaps, Lemuria fans) to give this record a spin. Yeah, it's healthy and fun to scream and throw shit in Dad's toolshed, but who wants to hear it committed to tape?