I get roughly three billion emails a day, many of which concern bands and genres I actively dislike and would never, ever cover, so when someone emails me out of the blue about a record telling me that it sounds like “early Slayer, Venom, Speedwolf, Leviathan,” I’m obviously going to perk up and take notice. As I happily discovered a few weeks ago, the UK’s Label 2318 is set to release a split cassette featuring Scottish scumdog Hellripper’s punk-splattered black’n’roll and stormy, atmospherically-inclined black metal from Philadelphia’s Batsheva. It’s offerings are short, nasty, and more than a little addictive, as the split finds both parties digging into the depths of two very different side of black metal—and striking black gold.
While the two don’t have much in common on paper (besides sharing the distinction of operating as solo operations), the 16-minute split flows well, covering all the bases whether you’re obsessed with Midnight or are a Second Wave black metal stan. The tape is out today, September 1, and is available from Label 2318’s webstire for a paltry three quid (about five bucks American).
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We’re streaming the whole thing—all three songs, including a Rats of Reality cover from Hellripper—below. Get stuck in.
Kim Kelly would love it if you’d stop sending her your fucking mixtapes. She’s on Twitter – @grimkim
