Most splits I review are often at least by liked mined or musically similar acts, that’s not the case with this split as it combines the gnarly Bolt Thrower fronted by a manic banshee sound of Arizona’s Landmine Marathon with the classic thrash metal of former Exhumed members.

Landmine Marathon’s, debut, Wounded, was a gritty, rumbling, but forgetful record of modern core-ish metal put through a classic death metal/grindcore meat grinder, and the result was certainly not you average protocols, clicky modern pseudo grind act, as front woman Grace Perry gave the album a real sense of vocal force and the music was far more rooted in Bolt Thrower than Dying Fetus. Well, these three new tracks further increase the Bolt Thrower influence; just listen to the opening salvos of “Skull From Skin” and “Rise With The Tide” as well as the mid song rumble of “Changing Addictions”. Plus Ms. Perry seems even more pissed off, and she (along with Hiretsukan’s Michelle Proffit) has to now start being considered one of the more venomous women in metal, and there’s not a clean croon or ballad in sight (I’m looking at you In This Moment, Walls of Jericho and The Agonist). There’s a lot of untapped potential in Landmine Marathon’s grimier, nasty sound, and these three tracks seem to start to show it, and I look forward to the band developing further and adding some real grit to a tired US deathcore copycat scene.

As for Scarecrow, the band features Matt Harvey (vocals/rhythm guitar) of Exhumed and Repulsion fame as well as fellow Exhumed member Bud Burke (lead Guitar). They are joined by ex-Vicious Rumors/ex-Machine Head drummer Will Carroll and the end result is yet another retro thrash wannabe that’s relatively forgetful. Granted, it’s tough to gage with only three songs, but there’s nothing in the heavily early Anthrax and early Testament inspired material that’s shows me this project will be anything to write home about. Admittedly, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” is pure nostalgia, but the other two tracks are pretty unspectacular if erstwhile efforts at bygone times from some experienced folks that should probably have stuck with thier original bands.

[Visit the band's website]

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