Chris Dodge

Originally released in 2000 on Slap A Ham and then reissued in 2003 by Relapse, this 27-track, 17-minute CD, East West Blast Test [Relapse] is a collaboration between two well-known names in the grindcore/hardcore/metalcore scenes: guitarist/bassist/sometime vocalist Chris Dodge (Spazz), and drummer Dave Witte (Discordance Axis, Human Remains, Burnt by the Sun, etc.). The album was assembled by Dodge in San Francisco, who added his parts after Witte had recorded his drum parts and sent them in the mail from his home base in New Jersey (hence the "East/West" part of the title). The results are surprisingly coherent -- and less electronically manipulated than the similarly devised Atomsmasher, another long-distance metal collaboration Witte has been involved in -- and the sound quality is great as well. As expected, this music is mostly fast and frenzied, with Witte throwing out seemingly every blastbeat and fill in his arsenal, and Dodge keeping pace with a flurry of riffs that range from violent to dissonant, and jazz-like to cartoon-ish, and occasionally silly. It's chaotic, it's noisy, it's a lot of fun, and it's over before you know it (even if they do manage to cram a lot of action into such a short playing time). This disc will likely appeal to fans of such other fast and noisy bands as Naked City, Fantômas, The Locust, and Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as any of these two musicians' other bands. ~ William York, All Music Guide