“Conflict Is Control / Poisonous Gas Thrower Of Jigoku” is a split release between Sri Lanka’s KONFLICT and Japan’s REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES. Both groups deliver frontal and abrasive interpretations of Grindcore; loud, fast, and barely contained. KONFLICT offer ten songs of warped, psychologically damaging Grindcore with a tense Black Metal atmosphere that utilizes a Death Metal tonal palette. REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES contribute eight tracks of a cleaner, more refined style of Grindcore that works off more conventional arrangements. As far as how these bands pair together for this split…if KONFLICT were a terminal cancer raging through a human body then REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES would be the mercy suicide gunshot through the head. KONFLICT takes the first side of the split with “Conflict Is Control”. Opening with ‘Control And Dominate Is What Thou Wilt Do’, three minutes of raw, harsh noise, KONFLICT clears the streets like an air raid siren with its introductory track. ‘Nonquam Non Paratus’ is the first actual song, impossibly fast drum machine patterns backed by rapid fire tremolo-picked chord progressions and indecipherable pitch-shifted vocals. As odd as it may sound, a mixture of early ARCHGOAT with early AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED is fair and reasonable description of the songwriting KONFLICT executes. The title track, ‘Conflict Is Control’, is the first demonstration of a unique aspect KONFLICT uses, which is the use of immensely distorted samples for atmosphere, background texture, and fills. ‘Decoding The Aryan Survival Cypher’ is a power electronics instrumental that flows directly into ‘Epigenetic Hate Transmission’, another cut of martial, militant, black grinding filth. ‘Haplogroup R-M124’ and ‘Aryan Cytoarchitecture And The Handle Of A Weapon Or Tool’ are both instrumental atmospheric tracks, the latter possessing a rather unsettling spoken word sample. ‘The Theory And Destruction Of All Systems’ opens with roiling, machinegun-like double-bass that will murder small speakers, and ‘To Erase The Ealam Parasite’ is the death-knell for the split, falling in line with the theme of sample-heavy, malevolent aggression. KONFLICT embody the rawness and anti-music leaning of groups like NYOGTHAEBLISZ and DEIPHAGO while utilizing soundscapes similar to GENOCIDE ORGAN or BRIGHTER DEATH NOW, it is not the most embracing and accepting form of extreme music, but fans of obscure groups along the lines of ZYKLON-B or even early THORNS are going to want to invest some time into checking out KONFLICT. REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES takes the second side of the split. “Poisonous Gas Thrower Of Jigoku” is similar in intensity with the KONFLICT material but differs atmospherically and utilizes more conventional songwriting mechanics. ‘Poisonous Gas Thrower Of Jigoku’ opens with an old school Death Metal riff before launching into high-velocity grinding. In contrast to KONFLICT, melody takes a more prominent role on this side of the split, as well as a more typical verse / chorus / verse approach to arrangement. ‘Dehumanizing Cesspool For Future Of Humanity’ continues the melodic execution akin to mid to late 90s Swedish Death Metal. ‘Doku’ turns the speed down a little and plays out as a groove-heavy mid-tempo crusher on par with BOWEL FETUS or a noisier version of COCK AND BALL TORTURE. Songs on the closing half of "Poisonous Gas Thrower Of Jigoku" switch over to a more Crust Punk style of riffing to forward the songs. Production quality is raw on both sides of the split. KONFLICT dogpiles most of its sound towards the low end of the sound spectrum, resulting in big wall of rumbling noise where the guitars and drums fight each other for breathing room in the mix. REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES is much cleaner, with guitars ringing out with a clear and easily audible manner. The production for the drum machine on the REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES side of the split may take a bit to get used to, as the velocity and strike volume of the snare drum is a bit too loud and in some cases totally overpowers every other track on the song. While this is a limited release, fans of high-speed breakneck Grindcore, Noise, or Crust Punk will want to seek it out. KONFLICT will also appeal to fans of raw Black Metal, “War” Metal, and Power Electronics. Cyclopean Eye Productions is responsible for this release, for more information they can be reached at www.cyclopeaneye.com. KONFLICT can be found at https://thirdworldkontrol.bandcamp.com and for more information on REEK OF THE UNZEN GAS FUMES there is www.facebook.com/rotugf.fgbb.