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CATALYST / BRAINWORMS  split  7" VINYL   (Rorschach)   6.98


Richmond's Catalyst continue to rock my tits off with their sublimely trippy hardcore, here dropping three jams, "Born With A Buzz", "Dunna Nanunna" and

"Song Without Words". Lotsa fastpaced crusty thrash this time around, all blasting drums and dueling snarled invectives, but in total Catalyst style the

raging 'core collides with psychedelic guitar noise that continues to remind me of a thrashed out, crusty mashup of Karp, Screaming Trees, and raging

hardcore punk. I can't get enough of these guys.

And Brainworms are thoroughly badass as well - I saw these guys in Philadelphia last year when I went up there to see Genghis Tron play with Kylesa at the

First Unitarian Church before those two bands kicked off their US tour together, and Brainworms were one of the openers. They flattened me with a raging,

noise rock -inflected hardcore punch that made me feel like I was smashed into some tiny New Jersey basement show from the mid 90's all over again, fast

paced charging hardcore punk with a mix of chaotic and mathy riffing, hoarse vocals bellowing amazingly verbose lyrics that read like furiously scrawled

diary entries, all set to melodies that lit my veins on fire. The two songs on this split continue the form: a combo of abrasive, fierce hardcore and jangly

indie melody and high energy. And their from Richmond, too, making this split a killer snapshot of the heavy, progressive hardcore fury that the river city

is spewing out right now. To top it all off, Rorshach records

had RVA artists Jim Callahan and Nick Kuszyk collaborate on the sleeve, a fantastic eye-popping seizure of gooey mutant typography and ecstatic LSD

graffiti.