Have you ever seen that movie, The Proposition? The 2005 film starring Guy Pearce and written by Nick Cave is basically an Australian Western set in the 1880's and is based around a gang of outlaw brothers wanted by local law enforcement. Anyways, eldest brother and gang leader, Arthur—played by actor Danny Huston—has a tense and violent confrontation with Police Sergeant Lawrence. The sergeant offers to help Huston's character by providing him with what he thinks is unknown intel that he hopes will better his increasingly dire circumstance. "I can help you," begs Sergeant Lawrence. Huston's Arthur replies in kind by repeatedly saying, "Help your fucking self," while stomping the man's head in. "Help your fucking self." That's what I think of every time I listen to Oakland, California's Merked. "Help. Your. Fucking. Self."
Merked are back on the blog with one of their many splits that they have released in the last couple of years. Most of which, if not all, are in line for future reviews courtesy of Enemy Of The Goat Records and their generous submissions. The three-piece have not deviated much since we last heard from them and their 2022 Murk-Mob full-length. Their sludgy, hardcore glazed grindcore/powerviolence remains just as heavy and antagonistically cold-hearted.
The bayside Merked boys, much like the previous blog episode featuring Malicious Algorithm, are at the forefront of California's modern era of rough and ready, no bullshit grindcore. While not being as lo-fi as their peers in Malicious Algorithm, Merked still have that heavy, low end mix. The band's usual wall of noise accented by feedbacking highs and quick bass gulps is in full force. That deep creak of the bass guitar that was so lovingly commented on back on Murk-Mob has seemingly bled over into the guitar on this release. The tone of the guitars has been generally consistent throughout the Merked discography, but I am going to lean on the opinion that they are slightly more woolly here.
Just as burly, the standard Merked vocal fare of low, slurred gutturals and squawking highs are suggestive of being a shave more viscous, as well. Or perhaps just more smooth, maybe? Like the uneven tooth on a turning gear that is inevitably worn smooth; free from any previous grating—flush.
Merked's songwriting style is still that tumbling, asymmetrical powerviolence. Songs are heavy and fast, yet manage to roll with a kind of Fibonacci bounding. I'm assuming this is in large thanks to the drumming, although I'm not entirely sure how to specifically pinpoint it. Songs are explosive bursts of blast beats that fire off and on in-between hardcore potholes. This time around, Merked skip out on the overt sludge influences that were so prevalent in Murk-Mob in favor of more traditional hardcore. Songs like, "Abuse," "Got what's Coming," and "Gray Death" are among the "slower" songs, but they manage to fall easily within the heavy mosh inducing hardcore than any sort of sludge or sludge-violence. And as always Merked's side is chock-full of movie sound clips, plenty of violent squelching cinematic foley work, and lyrics that are lacking in any sort of pity or empathy for the lazy-minded and morally weak.
Overall, Merked's side of this split is still in the vein of the band's well established style of grindcore and that of California's rising pocket of grime-violence. All tracks are under a minute long, leaving songs fairly streamlined and lean. The heavy, oblong mix keeps things brutal and loose. The band's cadence is unique and revolves like a tumbleweed of barbed wire sparking across the concrete. Honestly, the structure of the songs reminded me a lot of my last band. A few of the vocal patterns and drum fills triggered my practice space spidey-sense and I instinctually prepared myself for the upcoming chord changes that never came.
On the flipside of the cassette, Kageneko is a one-man death-grind band from either Seattle, Washington or Kitsault, British Columbia (depending on who you ask.) This is the first time that I have heard of Kageneko and I did my best to scrounge up some of the scarce information that is out there on the band—as contentious as it may be. The man behind the moniker is a member of the noise-grind band, Asmodexia. He plays all the instruments himself, including vocal duties and the programming of the drums. Kageneko released a demo entitled Ichiban on Soundcloud in 2020. In late 2023 Kageneko released Siamese Twin Cobra—a split with Mississippi noise-grind outfit, Boiled Tongue. Finally, Kageneko appeared on this split with Merked in the summer of 2023.
The band's split with Merked offers seven tracks of ruinously heavy blasting. Kageneko's straightforward approach to grindcore represents a singular, pummeling focus. The dark growl of the guitar distortion ties in well with the low-pitched vibes of the tape as a whole. If nothing else, the downtune guitar is a menacing storm of noise and a big presence in the songs. The death metal styled vocals are just as low as the guitar; almost bordering on goregrind without getting too regurgitative sounding. The programmed drums mainly alternate between blast beats and rapid fire double bass hammering.
There is an obvious Japanese themed aesthetic as well as major musical influences from bands like Assück and Insect Warfare. In my opinion, Kageneko has a lot of similarities to the Texas Gulf Coast grind scene. Bands like PLF, Noisy Neighbors, Apocalyptic Noise Syndicate and Ganglion pair well with the Pacific Northwest's, Kageneko, despite an almost two thousand mile transcontinental gap.
Come for the Merked, stay for Kageneko is essentially the deal with this tape. Like me, I'm sure a lot of people will learn about Kageneko here for the first time. The band's mix of brutal death metal and ferocious grindcore should be enough to satiate any self-respecting grindcore enthusiast. Honestly, the band reminds me of a stripped down, synthetic, Oops! All Gutturals version of Insect Warfare.
The only real criticism I could see anyone complaining about might be the use of programmed drums. I know a lot of purists, or whoever, lose their minds over drum machines and drum triggers, but I have never been that judgmental over such things. Although the programmed drums are noticeable, I don't think they are detracting or distracting. Either way, Kageneko are more than capable of standing on their own and are well deserving of being taken seriously.
FFO: Choke, Malicious Algorithm, Insect Warfare, Fuck... I'm Dead
Listen to the album: https://getmerked.bandcamp.com/album/merked-kageneko-split
