"On the afternoon of August 18, 1973, five young people in a Volkswagen van ran out of gas on a farm road in South Texas. Four of them were never seen again. The next morning the one survivor. Sally Hardesty-Enright, was picked up on a roadside. Blood-caked and screaming murder, Sally said she had broken out of a window in Hell. The girl babbled a mad tale: a cannibal family in an isolated farmhouse...chain-sawed fingers and bones...her brother, her friends hacked up for barbeque...chairs made of human skeletons...Then she sank into catatonia. Texas lawmen mounted a month-long manhunt, but could not locate the macabre farmhouse. They could find no killers and no victims. No facts; no crime. Officially, on the records, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre never happened. But during the last 13 years, over and over again reports of bizarre, grisly chain-saw mass-murders have persisted all across the state of Texas. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has not stopped. It haunts Texas. It seems to have no end."
-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2
(1986)
The pairing of Colorado's grind-violence trio, Berated with the Belgian grindcore super group and returning alums, Barren has to be one of the most ideal couplings for a split in recent memory. Straight out of the gate, Chainsaw Deth Cvlt—out now on Grand Vomit Productions—does not fuck around and has both bands bringing some of their best and most ruthless material. The two bands being seemingly drawn together over their adoration and devotion to not only throat clenching grindcore, but also the buzz saw sound of the legendary Boss Heavy Metal HM-2 distortion pedal. An obsession for the chainsaw frequency fetishism and pedal prepossession that Barren established with their 2021 demo which was chronicled in-depth in its Return to the House of Grindcore review.
Denver's Berated have consistently been releasing splits and EPs since 2017. Beginning as a Steve Buscemi obsessed power violence ensemble, Berated have subsequently increased in proficiency, recording quality and have steadily embraced an encroaching noise presence to become one of the more bloodthirsty grind-violence bands operating out of the American South West. Since 2017 the band has hosted a brief cavalcade of lead singers. Their latest, Caitlin, being debuted here on Chainsaw Deth Cvlt. And what we are given audience to is a shape-shifting, pitch-switching, throat twisting solitary dual layered vocal dog fight. High piercing, withering shrieks and low strangled screams that would make Mercedes McCambridge sit up in her grave and take notice. The vocals fold and turn on themselves like a neck breaking game of verbal Plinko. Caitlin's contributions to Berated and to this CD are extremely exciting and most impressive. Probably some of the best vocal work I have heard in a long time.
Berated's distortion drenched guitar is a track-by-track mainstay. The grime flinging off the twirling chain of Josh's guitar sounds thick and ravenous. It tears through their half of this split with total abandon. Additionally, tracks like "Fire Kingdom" host an understated craftsmanship that simply wasn't there in the band's beginning. Yet it can be heard maturing in the band's 2020 EP, Prescribed Burn and 2021's Immersed In The Worst three-way split.
Drummer Paul's drum work is blistering and bright and operates like it should come with tracer fire. It alternates between blast beats and snare rolls to create a savagery like that of a guerilla warfare fire-fight. Paul emphasizes that grind-violence sound by being pummeling, yet light enough to have the agility to keep up with the momentum and trajectory of the songs.
My only critique is purely greed based. Berated close out their side of the split with "Blast Off," a harsh noise track of persistent static and tonal wails. I selfishly wish this track was another traditional full band arrangement, complete with vocals and instrumentation. I do not want to deride the artistic relevance of "Blast Off." I just want more of this current Berated lineup.
The Belgium chainsaw massacre, pedal predilection practitioners of buzz saw benediction are back. Why these chainsaw worshipping tech junkies haven't adopted Leatherface as a mascot is beyond me. As a born Texan, I'm giving you permission. As you may recall from my previous review of Barren, the band of seasoned grind veterans came out and hit the ground running. Having a fully produced 2021 demo with expertly written songs with a large emphasis on sound quality and tone. A demo production largely manufactured in house, I might add. That 2021 demo was ultimately followed up with two EP releases—And Then There Were None and Thralled Are Those Who Kneel. Both of which were also released in 2021 and later re-released with the band's demo on 2022's Cursed To Walk The Earth anthology CD, released on Esagoya Records.
Chainsaw Deth Cvlt finds Barren with the same spinning teeth stock of staples and standards that the band has worked so hard to distill and pickle. Including the strength of vocalists Jimmy and Cliff's raspy twin-headed, one-two-punch of mid-ranged highs and lows that we are all familiar with. Their combination of corroded panther vocals come drowned in the same rusted whirlings of the saw-like fanaticism and distortion that the guitars are.
The guitar work is that chainsaw buzzing brutality that guitarist Matias has crafted so meticulously. An even-keel of static mist and a crushing low end put to a grindcore-paced fury. There is an addition of diving fret slides, headstock bending groans and wailing whammy bar overdubs on this CD that are reminiscent of Dorian Rainwater's collaborations with Bryan Fajardo era Phobia. Particularly in tracks like, "Recent." The guitar tone does sound a little more refined from the 2021 demo. Perhaps the product of a little more fine tuning and a higher grit sandpaper to grind things out more smoothly. A smoothness that might fuzz out Tom's bass to a degree in which it is present in the mix, yet does not stand out as strongly when on its own.
And as per usual, Llano's drumming is overly fast and precise. Snare and tom roll combinations that are claustrophobically tight. Blast beats that are raging with the ferociousness and speed of the very chainsaw that the cult pays tribute to. The consistency of Barren's releases is probably the tightest of any band's. This might be because of the minuscule gap between releases or the immense hands-on approach that the band has in the studio. It is certainly easy to see why a singles collection release could pass so seamlessly as a fully realized album.
Chainsaw Deth Cvlt is a perfectly balanced split. A rare happening in the world of underground and DIY music. Even more so when taking into consideration that this is an international effort between two bands that are representing two different styles within the grindcore spectrum. Berated are scathingly manic and energetically aggressive. This split represents the best of the their efforts so far and is cherry-topped with the absolute blistering additions of their new lead vocalist, Caitlin. Barren follows their young and recently amassed, guitar gear centered catalog of grindcore superiority with yet another blazing slice of fried gold. The tenured members make things look easy as they self-produce hard hitting grindcore purity on the regular. Barren deliver exactly what you would want as far as a grindcore release—heavy, pissed off, high-speed music. While Berated just simply leave you dry-mouthed and wanting more of their power violence seared take on grindcore. Expect this split CD to make an appearance on my end of the year top ten list of releases.
FFO: Lycanthrophy, Controlled Existence, Suffering Mind, Mumakil, Kill The Client
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