From Their Own
Planet Of D-Beat Radness…
SPLIT CRANIUM Review

Are you a d-beat fan that’s ready to have your brain buried in the grave of everything awesome? Well, the new Split Cranium self-titled album, out now on Hydra Head, will do just that. What gets me so amped about this release is that from the first second of “Little Brother,” you know straight up that these humans are here to destroy d-beat as we know it! The song kicks off with some ultra killer stab styles, then everything gets nitro and the caustic riffage fun really begins. This tune worships at the altar of warrior feedback and distortion, with drum beats that blast holes in your flesh. When I listen to Split Cranium, I know that this a record that will work its way into my DNA, and even when I leave this earth, I will still be head banging to it! This band has totally changed the sonic building blocks of what D-beat is supposed to sound like. Split Cranium is a band whose members are willing to allow their life experiences and influences to weave themselves into the way they write their songs. A stellar example of this can be heard on “Blossoms From Boils” – for the first minute of the song, it’s a space shuttle racing into the universe, then it turns into a fucking hovercraft gliding on the Louisiana swamps, with a southern melody as its guiding light! I guess you could say that Split Cranium is a group of mad scientists in the Dis-Noise lab, creating their own Dis-Frankenstein. The closing track, “Retrace the Circle,” is my favorite new drug and I’m freaking addicted! It’s an 8-minute masterpiece that is most likely best described by blasting it in your own your universe. Imagine if Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine decided to join forces with Bones from Discharge, and they take some shrooms and create a new genre called Dis-Gaze. This song is a great finale to an awesome album, it’s majestic in a very twisted way. It must be noted that the vocals on this album are off the fucking hook, and the musicianship is in its own valley of rawness! Split Cranium are genius at fusing filthy melody into their compositions. It’s cool to hear an album made by friends that just wanted to have fun and share it with the world. You don’t even have to be a fan of D-beat to get into this record, all you have to be is a fan of good music! If this is what having my skull split open sounds like, I’m all for it!