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Destruct / Absolut: Deafen & Disarm 7” (Acute Noise Manufacture) Two of contemporary d-beat’s heavyweights team up for a new 6-song split 7” that, besides providing a welcome new dose from each band, also displays the range of aesthetic possibilities within this narrowly prescribed sub-genre. Destruct delivers three new tracks, and while they’ve labeled their last few releases as belonging to their “Noise Room era” (since the legendary Tokyo-based recording studio has had a big hand in shaping the sound), they’re not a huge departure from the Bastard-via-Disclose style Destruct has been honing since they started. I will say, though, that the pummeling, virtuosic drumming and brilliantly fried guitar and bass tones here are totally dialed in, and Destruct’s side of the split is one of the best-sounding records I’ve heard in some time, a monstrous assault that’ll make your turntable’s stylus beg for mercy. Absolut wisely decides not to compete with Destruct in sounding bigger and heavier on their three songs. If Destruct’s songs are like one of Dario Argento’s vintage 70s giallos, rendered in high-key color and cringe-inducing detail, Absolut’s tracks are like the 1922 Nosferatu film: smudged, distorted, and covered in a thick blanket of atmosphere. While it can be difficult to grasp the particulars of Absolut’s metal-punk sound through the din, the fits of lead guitar that bubble to the surface periodically are fascinating, labyrinthine eruptions of notes that give the most out-there technical thrash bands of the 80s (Watchtower? Forbidden?) a run for their money. While some will prefer Destruct’s traditionalism and others will lean toward Absolut’s progressivism, any true d-beat maniac will love both sides of this raging slab.