Sacrificial Slaughter/Enfuneration

Hard to fault a split with a name like this, and this fun little tag-team match is actually pretty fault-free. The main complaint is the production sound on Sacrificial Slaughter's side; it's too boxy and stiff around the drums, too processed and punchy, taking away from the band's excellent riff assault (they provide the thrash, although it's definitely rooted in death). "Compound Fracture" is a good example of this California band's talents around the fretboard. With a more natural production, Sacrificial Slaughter would kill, but they do a good job of maiming. Meanwhile, Oklahoma's Enfuneration have no problem being rawer and nastier with their production, and the pure death metal sounds they dish out complement it well. Excellent songs like "Insidious Domain" (did we mention they're death metal?) are just this side of the sewer-level uncomfortable vibe of bands like Autopsy or Immolation. The band keep things old school and simple, like Suffocation, minus the groove. Simple like it's '91 all over again, drums barely in time, killer riff after killer riff, production ragged and loose ― simple in all the best ways.