If you are already familiar with both of these bands you don’t need to hear squat from me about this split but I’ll do my best to squish at its guts and suck the chittering wrigglers from its eyes ’til you’ve gotten an idea how great this pairing is and, I guess has been. First off, this isn’t a reissue or expansion of the ‘Undergang / Anatomia‘ split 7″ back in 2017 — They’re presenting all new material here that ain’t scummy castaway B-side drool-over. Each band contributes about ~fifteen minutes or so of their best gunk-ass death grime here and I’m not saying that because they kinda both shit gold at this point but, I kind of am because they’ve both released some of their most inspired work in the last few years and this record is no exception.

Anatomia still rule and they’ve been getting better, more daring and disgusting with each release since they formed in 2002 between members of (then reformed) legends Transgressor and nearby late 80’s group Necrophile, folks who’d been involved in extreme metal way, way back when and still know exactly what’s up. Sure thing man, being old doesn’t count for much in metal but their discography past-and-present is overflowing with the best sort of death metal captured on countless split releases and four distinct full-lengths, all of which speak to the rotten tradition of underground death influenced by early Autopsy plus the best of classic death and doom. They are in top form here with the stumbling 12-minute doomed plow of “Total Darkness” providing the major spectacle of the split up front. I’d recently praised Takashi Tanaka‘s guest vocal on Reputdeath‘s latest demo (‘Dissecting Goryfication‘) and I have to say his work, or, both of their vocal work here, represents some of my favorite of the last several years not only in terms of puke-xpression but placement within both of these songs. Absolutely putrid and imposing dread in the best way possible for a death/doom piece and an insane way to kick off this record.

Danish quartet Undergang need even less of an introduction these days with these four songs representing the brazen late 80’s/early 90’s gore metal they’ve been perfecting since the late 2000’s, building crypt cred ’til ‘Aldrig i livet‘ shocked the farts out of us all back in 2020 with how catchy it’d been. Though these Copenhagen-based folks were sort of known for their punkish, over the top bluntness early on they’ve done a fantastic job of writing songs that quickly find their memorable pocket within the kinda Finndeath whizzed grinding death paradigm presented here, a perfect mix of trailing hooks and mid-paced moshable scuzz. The big meathook here is their third and final piece on the split, “Taksidermi”, which is easily the most infectious rhythm guitar grunt of the full listen. Of course I lean towards the doom riffs on Anatomia‘s side but I’d never turn down a chance to hit either side of this one. Album art is nuts, each band’s sound pairs well without a jarring step down in quality in either direction, and the listening experience is just as succinct as it needs to be while still showcasing the best of each group. A very high recommendation.

Info:
ARTIST:	ANATOMIA / UNDERGANG
TITLE:	Split 12″
LABEL(S):	Me Saco Un Ojo, Dark Descent Records
RELEASE DATE:	April 15th, 2022

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/anatomia-undergang

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