Various

UK label House of Stairs releases this colossal three-way split in order to further the momentum of thinking man’s hardcore, popularised by American biggies Hydra Head and Relapse. Having released a split single with Atlanta’s Mastodon, Chicago’s American Heritage kick off the festivities with "Dead Men Wear Tags” and "Anti-American Girl Place,” both lengthy, caustic blends of Kiss It Goodbye-ish and Burnt By The Sun-y phlegm with Mastodon-like chordal yelps. The seven-minute "Forget,” however, is a totally different beast, as it decelerates to Isis speed and infuses the choruses and bridges with doom-y, Botch-inspired riffage. London’s math instrumentalists Foe check in with the ten-minute epic "Myrmidon,” beginning with a Helmet-styled intro and blossoming into an unholy trifixion of Stormtroopers Of Death, Dillinger Escape Plan and Quicksand. Surely the only West London band inspired by Iraqi folk music, Art of Burning Water polish off the proceedings in particularly violent form. Both "Who’s Going To Help God When I’m Finished With Him” and "The Well (Because We Are)” are Keelhaul-meets-A Life Once Lost bash fests with residual industrial ambience. "Destroyer Disgraced” has an ultra-cool, Melvins breakdown at the end with clean vocals and the Mastodon tack of "Gates Of Kazantrutha” ends with electronic looped dementia, on par with Dead World and Candiru. With organic cover art by Mike Coles (of Killing Joke artwork fame), The Combined Stupidity is purely contradictory to its title and yearns to be heard.