EP Review: Davie Allan/Joel Grind Split Ep

This EP collaboration between legendary fuzz/surf rock guitarist Davie Allan and modern underground Thrash legend Joel Grind was released on March 11^th, 2016. Now you might say “those two genres are way far apart from each other” and you would be right however this ep actually has no thrash elements besides a little bit of punk. My love for surf rock and old school fuzzed out guitars made me really excited for this release as I am already a decent fan of both artists. But is this ep anything good or is it just a one and done?

                                                

Track Rundown

-SIDE A: Davie Allan

1.Recycled Too- Opening with a rumbling of choppers and Davie Allan comes careening in with a really cool heavy and insanely fuzzed out riff. His playing has a really choppy feel to it especially during the melodic parts which I really like. This song has some surf-ish elements to it. It’s a straight jamming song and its main riff is pretty infectious im digging it.

2.Buzz Saw Effect- The end of the last song really Segway’s nice into this one. This one has a heavier almost sludgier feel to it as well. It’s a totally sleazy rocking song with a lot more of a surf rock influence on it as well. So far im really liking the songs I have heard they have a style that really hits home for me.

-SIDE B: Joel Grind

1.PeaceKeeper- This is probably the closest sounding song on the record that sounds like metal. It feels like the Ramones plugged into some vintage fuzz boxes and started jamming away I really dig it and it flows shockingly well with the last two songs.

2.The Invisible Landscape-This song is probably the most different sounding track on the EP because there is not a lot of fuzz going on it is more of a reverbed hollow body surf sounding song. It actually sounds a bit like a Psychobilly song too and I think it’s a great ending song on this split and its my favorite track of all four as well.

Overall, I give this EP a 3 out of 5. It really isn’t an EP that is going to change the world but it is damn good fun and a bizarrely awesome collaboration between two great guitarists. If you like Psychobilly, Fuzz Rock, Punk, Surf or Garage Rock you’ll definitely dig this ep and hopefully it’ll inspire you to check out both artists awesome discography.