This Lp pairs up new material from two killer dark hardcore bands, dystopian German crust-thugs Alpinist and Cleveland's apocalyptic ragers Masakari, both of whom have released new albums on Southern Lord over the past year.

On Alpinist's side, the band delivers six songs of dark, dystopian metallic hardcore, starting with the dissonant Neurosis-esque apocalyptic power of the first song, but then the band floors the pedal and launches into a speedy metallic D-beat hardcore assault that continues throughout their side. The band whips out dark melodic leads and crushing crusty riffs, sudden downshifting into raging rocking mid-tempo fury, lurching jagged dirge, blast beat driven violence, and swirling breakdowns with powerful super-tight drumming. The vocals are a mix of pissed-off shrieks and death metallish howls. There are shades of Tragedy and that dissonant brutal Bremen/Per Koro hardcore sound along with some forays into doom. The side ends with the moody "Quelle Valeur Reste?", a slower brooding epic with sampled voices, stirring magisterial guitars and dark rumbling drift, stretching into dark doom-laden slow core that grows heavier and more intense, finally picking up speed into a driving majestic crescendo.

Masakari bring eight of their own raging end-time visions, played out through a series of ripping D-beat driven hardcore anthems and crushing metallic dirges laced with stirring dark melodic breakdowns and swathes of dark ambience. As on their previous records, I hear that malevolent Clevo hardcore sound creeping through, shades of Integrity lurking just below the surface of their ferocious crustmetal. These guys are one of the best bands doing this sort of dark apocalyptic hardcore right now.