Two of Belgium's heaviest exports come together on this killer-looking new 10" from Init Recdords, pressed up on clear vinyl and packaged inside of a screen printed translucent mylar sleeve with artwork from Kristoffer Mondy. Both of the bands play extremely heavy, slow-paced sludge metal, but each takes it in a different direction, with Amenra's apocalyptic black dirge contrasting with the instrumental atmospheric crush of Hive Destruction.

Amenra's side has two songs, "Dodenakker" and "Nemelendelle" (both of which appeared on their studio album collection Mass III-II + Mass IIII) recorded live in Belgium in 2010. The cloudy black oppressiveness of Amenra's sound is only amplified in the live setting; sustained drones drift into view and hover like distant warning sirens just as the full band crashes in with their punishing slow motion doomchug, a grinding apocalyptic dirge fronted by the singer's strained, desperate screams, fueled by a bottom-heavy rhythm section that pounds and chugs like the gears of some great earthmoving machine, erupting into volleys of dissonant droning riffage and thunderous blasts of down-tuned roar. These two tracks perfectly demonstrate the ease in which Amenra has taken the eschatological dirge-metal of Neurosis and reshaped it into their own image, one that is significantly more paranoid and hopeless and relentless. Hear this, and witness one of the heaviest bands in action right now.

I have a new Cd from the band Hive Destruction that I have not listened to yet, but it is next in line on my play list once this record leaves my turntable. This French band features a lineup comprised of one of Amenra's founding members alongside personnel from the notorious Belgian Holy Terror hardcore outfit Liar, members of the fearsome "H8000 Crew". As Hive Destruction, these low-end technicians lay down some serious damage in the form of heavy mega-chug on the song "We're all instruments of purpose - the second coming", a rumbling instrumental workout that combines anthemic rocking riffage to atmospheric guitars, some electronic grit and monstrous hooks to create something that sounds to my ears like a song from The Cult being performed by Pelican, although it ends up in a strange heap of opera samples, brutal electronics, police interrogations, eerie acoustic strum, and bestial vocal-noise loops at the very end.