Album Review: Split Cranium - Split Cranium

Sporting one of the best names for a metal super group since All Pigs Must Die, Split Cranium are a transatlantic communion comprised of former Isis brainchild Aaron Turner (USA) versus Circle's Commander in Chief Jussi Lehtisalo, and two of the blokes from Steel Mammoth, all New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal luminaries. Anyone expecting the stately atmospherics of Isis or cultured post-metal of Circle however, will be in for a rude slap around the chops, as from the opening bar onwards they plunge into their hitherto unexpressed love of power chords and all things Motorhead-esque.

The production sounds much like the performance; quick and dirty. All up, they rip through eight songs in a ruthlessly efficient 25 minutes. Arguably they sound at their best when they ease the aggression down a notch and get a groove on, as evidenced by Blossoms From Boil. It's the one of the only two times that Split Cranium expand beyond two and a half minutes, and although it may fly in the face of every precept of hardcore, some of these numbers might have turned out stronger if the band had spent more time developing them (but then what is hardcore, if you can't break a rule or two?).

It's certainly fun, and it's been a long time since Aaron Turner sounded this much like he's living in the moment. Ironically though, this also feels like one metal side project that's not built to last. Now, All Pigs Must Die on the other hand…