Breathe Knives/Kataplexis

For a split between two acts that share little, aside from hailing from Calgary and possessing a love of loud guitars, this offering from Breathe Knives and Kataplexis is an entertaining, varied and relentless ride through the world of Western Canadian extremity. Noise trio Breathe Knives kick-start the proceedings with the startling brutality of "Wake Up Walt Disney." Throughout their portion of the release, the band sound like a beefed-up Unsane, with added timing twists, turns and the occasional foray into death metal, perhaps as a nod to Kataplexis, whose saturated guitar tones and super-dense drumming take up the majority of the sonic real estate. Although the sound of their grind-infused chaos is compelling, it leaves little room for the vocals, which are left somewhat buried. This is rectified thanks to a cover of none other than Breathe Knives' "Rebreather," which Kataplexis redraft in a way more noise-infused and sludgy than the original songwriters ever could have dreamed.