5 out of 5

Label: Hydra Head

Producer: Eyehategod, Bill T. Miller (A.C.)

See, you CAN make a 7″ packed to its edges with jams that make you want to relisten to each side, to flip it over, to flip it back, to be satisfied with what’s there and feel like the grainy hiss and effort required to put the needle down add to the value of the track.  I ain’t a Black Sabbath fan, I don’t give a poo.  I’ve been scared of A.C. most of my life, and Eyehategod exists in that same realm of grindcore of which Hydra Head has awesomely given me a legitimate pathway toward appreciating.  So there’s certainly no bias toward these tracks.

On the A-Side, we have Anal Cunt rockin’ out one traditional track – Killing Yourself to Live- and then a mash-up track that’s a beautiful dose of wandering and jokery that ends in funny noises being made over ‘Blow on a Jug’.  Yes, A.C. is speed metal stuff, but even though we’ve fit two tracks on one side, they play it mostly straight (I think, I don’t know the original) and knock it out of the park, saving the playing around for that second track, which is enjoyably stylistically mixed and tops the headbanging with some silly laughs.

Flip it over to the B-Side, ‘Sabbath Jam,’ which the liner notes suggest, to me, that this is a slapped together mix of BS riffs.  But whether it’s a previously written track or a new combination executed by Eyehategod – it equally rocks, and fills its side to the brim, wringing a rich and heavy thump out of even my shitty Fischer Price record player speakers.  Elements that I recognize do filter through, and again, it’s played with commendable straight-forwardness, but tuned with modern production sharpness and hardcore vocals.

I don’t know what your draw is here – Black Sabbath fan, fan of either band, collecting Hyrda Head, curious purchase, whatever – but if you dig heavy music, this is worth your dime.  Plus, tinted vinyl (mine’s orange, dunno if there are other colors) and reliably sweet album art from Mr. Turner.