Full of Hell & Gasp - Split

Who's gonna cast a miracle on this?

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on March 20th 2024) 

2023 was a very productive year for Full of Hell. The deathgrind/noise outfit has always been very active when it came to collaborating with other artists across a multitude of genres, but last year was a particularly interesting one, with the quartet working with bands like Primitive Man, Nothing, and in the case of the other half of this release, Gasp. Truth be told, I was wholly unacquainted with the latter group before listening to this split, and like any self-respecting music fan I decided to visit some of their past work in order to gain a new perspective on this particular project.

On the whole, Full of Hell and Gasp operate with a surprisingly unified vision for a split, a format commonly known for somewhat disparate and inconsistent sounds. Both artists emphasise ambience drenched in feedback and noise, Gasp in particular lacing their two songs with some mild psychedelia. There’s a handful of notable moments sprinkled throughout, especially on the second half, where some acoustics and hazy textures appear on “Impact Miracles”, as well as some angular riffing on “Byflower Babel”. That being said, it feels far less adventurous than one would expect from a band that put out Drome Triler of Puzzle Zoo People, whose combination of sounds remains unique within the realm of powerviolence to this day. As for Full of Hell, their commitment to noise unfortunately remains surface level, as has been the case with most of their full-length work as well, though they do play around with dynamics more on “All Knew None”, owing to the longer format.

Seeing as we’re talking about bands whose roots lie in guitar-based music though, there’s another aspect of the sound worth acknowledging, and it’s one where both bands fall short. Full of Hell sticks to some rather pedestrian sludge passages on “A Ladder Made of Warped Light”, which get old quickly, with the band using just 2 riffs on the first leg of the track. As for Gasp, they prioritise ambience and atmospherics, leading to there being a dearth of more ferocious riffing, leading to the aforementioned “Impact Miracles” being more of a surprise than it had any right to be. It’s disappointing really, considering how well they managed to meld both of those aspects of their sound on their debut, whereas the songs on this split lean way too far into one aspect of their sound, resulting in a far less adventurous experience.

I really wish I liked this split more. It’s no secret I’m a big Full of Hell fan, and seeing them set off to explore other aspects of their sound without the likes of Merzbow or The Body at their side was exciting, but things turned out to be as milquetoast as they’ve ever been. A common complaint of mine with their full-lengths has been that they never quite commit to the noisier parts outside of songs that amount to interludes, and I hoped things would be different here. As for Gasp, while their side was noticeably stronger, in retrospect it doesn’t quite hit the same highs as their debut, though I have to commend it for actually pushing me towards listening to them in the first place.

Highlight: Impact Miracles

Rating: 50%