WSOHOIDPS

On Split LP by Black Pus & Oozing Wound
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I know what you need / And this is not it!

It may not be what I need, but goddamn, it’s what I want. Coming off a fourteen-minute, blown-to-bits, repeato-drum-and-noise freakout called “Total Eclipse,” Brian Chippendale, aka Hundred Arms, aka one-half of Lightning Bolt shrieks about my exigencies. Food, water, shelter, love, etc. I get it. Fried noise records? Probably not on that list. Still, after the past couple of weeks, “cathartic abandon” is pretty high on my list of wants–maybe, possibly, arguably, despite Mr. Chippendale’s assertion, an actual necessity of sorts. And since I’m not into drugs, booze is mostly a drag, and my sense of self-preservation is too acute for adventure sports, this split LP is just the ticket, an ideal boot to the brain, something to jab my reset button.

If press releases are to believed, a recent Black Pus / Oozing Wound double bill at the Empty Bottle in Chicago mercilessly obliterated ear drums, leaving scores stunned and nearly deaf, shaking the very foundations of legendary venue. Inspired by the destruction they had wrought, the two acts decided to join forces. Split LP is the resulting slab of sonic terror, featuring two new offerings from Black Pus, and three from Oozing Wound on the flip.



Aside from the aforementioned, mind-melting “Total Eclipse,” Black Pus contributes “Blood Will Run,” a three-minute, bent jam addressing the beyond-fucked-up murder of Jordan Davis. It is, I think, the first time we’ve heard Chippendale’s voice clearly, his vocals are fairly clean, an unprocessed series of punk declamations set over the heaviest drums imaginable and screeds of harsh (maybe) guitar noise. Perversely, psychotically, it’s an earworm, far and away the “catchiest” track on the LP, probably the only thing recognizable as a pop song. But we’re talking about Brian Chippendale here, so I should probably get back to the drums. Recorded at home (with a mixing assist by Seth at Machines With Magnets), played loud as hell, beat to pieces, they sound magnificent, ultra distorted, trashed. His side could easily be the soundtrack to existence collapsing.

Oozing Wound, for the uninitiated, are “not a metal band” from Chicago. Still, their 2013 debut LP, Retrash, was the finest salvo of thrash I’d heard in, like, forever. But even then, it seemed clear that the Wound’s sensibility had more in common with the unorthodox freaks of heavy music–bands like Black Pus (duh) or Detroit’s Child Bite or the late, great, not-quite-metal, sludgelords KARP–than “true” thrash lifers (whatever that means). And really, this is a good thing, suggesting an unwillingness to conform to doctrinal thinking or traditional genre boundaries.

So, the split finds them more-or-less de-thrashed, but sacrificing none of their intensity. Here they cling white-knuckled to the three Rs, something like KARP barreling headlong into The Fall. In fact, for my money, the most electrifying moment on the whole LP comes about halfway through “Ganja Gremlin” when the band downshifts, decelerating slowly to a halt over two-and-a-half methodical, bludgeoning minutes. Repetition, repetition, re-pe–ti—tion. Also noteworthy: “Aging Punk” sees “lead screamer” Zack Weil not screaming much at all, instead going off like a deranged Rick Froberg doing his best Mark E. Smith. Again, a good thing. Listen, I’m not gonna mince words: Oozing Wound rules, everything they’ve put out slays, and this batch of songs finds them reaching a new peak. Their next album will probably blow our heads off.

So, yeah. With all due respect to Mr. Chippendale, who cares what I need? Just give me this. 

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Black Pus & Oozing Wound's Split LP is out now on Thrill Jockey.

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Bernie Brooks is Ship’s editor-at-large and SE Michigan correspondent. Send him records, tapes, zines, and prints: bernie [at] shipinthewoods [dot] com