Review contributed to Death Metal Underground by Jon Browning.

This Ends Here / The Conqueror Worm is a not totally godawful, self-titled punk split from the bands of the same names. You won’t want to shoot half of them after listening to it if you’re that bored you know. This Ends Hear’s a-side consists of atmospheric d-beating crossover similar to Discharge crossed with Celtic Frost to create punk with the same tempo as 1990s post-hardcore and atmospheric sludge with none of the outright guitar wank and junkie idiocy. While listeners have probably heard the standard d-beat rhythms, the influence from the stranger, melodic side of speed metal (Sabbat and the Brazilians) and later post-hardcore gives them strength beyond the robotic machine punk guitar wank of bands like Martyrdod. This Ends Here would do well to get rid of most of their bluesier attempts at atmosphere in future material or better integrated it into flowing compositions similar to the better Celtic Frost influenced death metal like Autopsy and Obituary – Cause of Death you know.

The Conqueror Worm’s b-side of the split is much weaker, consisting of war metal influenced lame noise rock pretending to be grindcore without actually grinding so The Conqueror Worm cannot inherently be a grindcore band. Their songs are differentiated through different drum beats and samples like in inferior hardcore. The coolest thing on their side of the split is a sample of Klaus Kinski from Werner Herzog’s classic Aguirre: The Wrath of God. The Conqueror Worm’s b-side sucks. Overall this split isn’t worth anyone buying or listening to except for friends, girlfriends, and mothers of This Ends Here, who could easily improve. I recommend This Ends Here sells this split at their local hardcore shows at dive bars and scratches out the b-side similar to what Sepultura did to the glam rock band that Bestial Invasion was originally on a split LP with. All other headbangers should just listen to Morbid Tales / Emperor’s Return you know as that’s way better done music than this mediocre punk split.

Tags: 2017, Crossover, crossover thrash, d-beat, Hardcore, noise, noise rock, post-hardcore, punk, punk rock, review, rock, split, the conqueror worm, this ends here, thrash metal, War Metal