6th June 2023

Review: “404 Ends” by SPLIT//BITE

Hailing from Bergen Norway and comprised of seasoned veterans from other projects in the local Hardcore and Metal scene, SPLIT//BITE are a Metallic Hardcore band with a reputation for creating high energy, chaotic music with a hard-hitting intensity. Their debut EP “404 Ends” has found release on Loyal Blood Records, owned by Yngve Andersen of Blood Command fame with the band saying the record is “about establishing a precedence in a society defined by cultural norms adapted to your average joe. With this we bring about subjects like existential anxiety, apathy, and also artistic freedom. We preach this through our intensive tempo, and a clear message from start to end.“…

Taking its title from the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name and drawing partly from its plot, “Naked Lunch” opens up the floor for two steppers with a brutal slab of Metallic Hardcore like yo mama used to make. Violent, turbulent aggression but with all of the control and none of the chaos, it introduces the record in style, slamming down the gauntlet on the Kings table. Gang chants rise from the almost feral vocals, the swirling razor sharp riffs cutting like a hot knife through butter, one part Knocked Loose, one part Glassjaw, all Split//Bite. The clank-y bass is a great sound and when everything drops out for an avant-garde moment, it’s quirky and fun. “Error Ends” changes gear to Cancer Bats style Hardcore Punk, rattling the brains in fast and loose style, almost sounding like it was recorded live from the floor. Another floor filler, it has a little tongue in cheek gallows humour in the lyrics which simply has to be heard and will probably require a magnifying glass and a lyric sheet to ensure nothing has been misread. Caution: don’t sit in the sun and do that, you don’t want to set fire to the paper. It addresses anxiety, existentialism and the influence explaining how this leads to brainwashing in dark and intelligent fashion.

Another violent mood swing finds “Forgotten Place” in Will Haven territory, the dull ache of a buried clean vocal moments almost lost in the sea of Noise Metal riffs and caustic unclean vocals that smash at the brain like hits from a prize fighter. Lyrically it delves into the complexity of self-awareness and how old habits leave people moving in concentric circles, while sonically throwing you around like a tiny boat caught in a storm. Then the hilariously titled “Why Achieve Nirvana When I Can Play Video Games Instead” finds the band pulling out an almost downtempo style section to close out what is otherwise a neck snapping vicious little ditty served at the tempo of the damned. A classy bass drive opens up “Proud Ship Far From Shore“, its punchy breakdowns and staccato riff breaks biting at the ankles like a Pitbull seeking the Postman’s leg. It’s hard to imagine it listening back but somehow the band will find another 5% of incendiary energy to deliver these cuts live, no doubt turning mosh pits into blood baths in their wake. Having started off with a furious note, each cut adds a little more fuel to the fire so that by the end the record is nothing short of a towering inferno of Metallic Hardcore orientation, however that genre tag is loose fitting as the band take plenty of influence from other genres and throw that into the fire [7/10]

Track Listing