Impact’s The Barren Landscape of You is heavy metal with a stiff measure of hardcore in the form of shouted lyrics and the implication of long-haired head-banging antics. Crashing into gear with a grinding of chords and thrashing drums, it then switches between a thrashing hardcore verse and a chorus of ponderous and epic, grandeur-laden heavy metal. Their sound is incredibly loud and full, the overpowering musical equivalent of demolition equipment, and if you’re a metal/hardcore loving type, this is well worth checking out. Unfortunately, epic heavy metal tends to bring me out in a fit of giggles - it’s altogether too righteously serious and unable to see the humour inherent in, well, being a heavy metal band and naming your song “The Barren Landscape of You”.

Cambridge/Bury St Edmunds live favourites The Volunteers are equally hardcore but are of the punk rather than the metal and are far more old school. They are not serious, epic or grinding and their sound can be summed up thus: thrash-shout-thrash-shout-thrash-shout-STOP! Due to their playing at a rate of 5,000 notes per second, a feat which they manage by investing more energy in their performance than one would imagine a human could possibly contain without spontaneously combusting, their two songs on this split single take up less space than Impact’s one. And into this short space of time they compress ten times the energy, passion and fun. A little like a less snotty/spotty Descendants, only with more notes and a higher decibel level. Utterly lacking in pretension, utterly enjoyable and spilling over with flailing, frantic energy. YES!

You can get this single, if you want. REPEA*T fanzine will sell it to you from their website at repeatfanzine.co.uk, and will then donate the proceeds to Love Music, Hate Racism, enabling you to feel enriched by both owning good music _and _ by contributing to the enlightenment of the human race.