Bookburner vs. Zool Split Review + Stream

Words: Grant Hobson (Psalm69)
This split release from two Massachusetts bands poses a perennial hardcore/ grindcore / punk problem. How many words need be written about a project that clocks in with six songs (three apiece) at about sixteen minutes or so?
The short answer, with a gnarly, exhilarating release  like this, not many.
The time fair flies by in a fury of battered drums, pained yelps, guitars that have just crawled out of the prehistoric swamp and an initially disconcerting Ghostbusters sample, until you get the joke (“Stay Puft” by Z00L, ho ho). Presumably both bands were recorded absolutely live and this adds to the immediacy of their charms, in a Land Speed Record kind of way.
Bookburner’s three tracks recall that palette-cleansing taste of early Sub Pop, Tad or Mudhoney, and that’s meant purely as a compliment. “Standing Ovation” also seems to evoke the spirit of Slint. It sounds hurt enough, and at 2.52, clocks in as their “prog” moment. This may be the way for them to go if they want to push themselves.
Z00L have a track entitled “Black Mage” that clocks in at 4.19 and veers between sludge-rock and adrenaline bursts of six-string-mangling-fury and is their standout contribution to the release. The other two tracks shout at you, kick your cat and lurch out of the house.
Recommended.