Two mainstays of Perth hardcore join forces to deliver a fiercely crafted, darkly savage lesson in crust fuelled metallic hardcore.
‘Watch the planet implode, Scattered bodies fall, Temples to crumble, All knowledge buckles, Consumed in torment, Suffer eternal’ (Devoured By Anguish)
Aglo kick us off on side one with an utterly monolithic intensity. The duo already have two 12-inch releases under their belt and this split follows up last year’s ‘Fixate & Disgrace / Control & Torture’. It sees them continue to hone a brutal fusion of metallic hardcore and doom metal influences with a visceral verve.
The guitar tone is simply crushing, a pitch perfect balance of fuzz and heft, laced with flares of sombre melody. Meanwhile, the percussion locks in with a resolute power and the unforgiving, death metal inclined growls plunge us into the bleakest of apocalyptic futures.
The opening two tracks, Devoured By Anguish and Turning The Screws, searingly ignite the trade-off between restrained muscularity and punishing grooves. Things then slow to the funereal on Darken Sky, the sludge mired foreboding seasoned with brightly melodic solos, the mournful, gothic drawl of guest vocalist Alex Nilsson-Faulds (Life Cult), and just a hint of stoner metal. It is, perhaps, this latter dimension that enables to the band to close in such rousing style with a cover of Man In The Box by Alice In Chains, taken from their 1990 album, Facelift.
‘Worked to death and farmed for debt. A shackled mind is a shackled wrist, but at least you can still pray. Here is the pistol, there is the room, do the decent thing. Another corporate snuff film’ (Sin-Eater)
Many would wilt in the face of such a compelling opening. But thankfully, Territory are made of much sterner stuff. Featuring members of Gaoled and No Future, they have been active for the past decade, and this split is their first release since their 2022 EP, The Tower.
The fundamentals of their five tracks are forged in the same merciless crucible as Aglo. Cavernously roared vocals are matched with filthy buzzsaw riffage as the band segue between slab-like velocity and galloping eruptions, their command of the eviscerating, tension-shattering breakdown absolute.
Lyrically, the band draw connections confronting the relentless grind and ruthless extraction born of capitalism’s totalising logic – the market is always right, humans merely units of productivity. The venomous climax to Thief. The seething, squalling fury of Sin-Eater. The brooding menace of Why Hope? The sledgehammer grooves of 14:15. The melancholy braided By Any Other Name. It is this conflict that permeates every pore of their sonic onslaught.
