Black Arrows of Filth and Impurity 1984 (Eternal)

I can't help but smirk when looking through the "black" section of my record collection. Black Cobra, Black Cross, Black Dahlia Murder, Black Elk, Black Flag, Black Ships, Black Widows, Blacklisted. So what the hell, let's throw Indianapolis' Black Arrows of Filth and Impurity into the mix. 1984 (Eternal) presents a pretty convincing mixture of technical grind, chaotic hardcore, and general dissonance in its first five tracks. It's a frenzied blend of everything from Crowpath and Pig Destroyer to Premonitions of War and The Red Chord. Take the 90 some seconds of "Nvclear Facelift (Mantra of the Maggot)" as an excellent example, as its lightning fast grind intro jams right up against a massive discordant breakdown, only to dissolve back into another frantic grind period for the conclusion. "If Shit Were Gold, the Poor Wouldn't Have Assholes" excels even more at a similar mix of tricks, thanks to a massive, sludgy riff popping up at around the 30 second mark. If you're in the mood for some truly grimy chaotic metal that's almost completely devoid of metal, these first five tracks (coming to around ten minutes of music) are for you. But what about the rest Oh yeah, those two tracks coming in on the tail end ("Survivors Envy the Dead" and "Your Noise Is Worthless") pull a complete one-eighty and take the listener on over a half-hour of dreary, ambient soundscapes and doomy noise. The complete change in direction is to be admired -- it's almost as if Pig Destroyer attempted to stick two Merzbow tracks at the end of a record -- but there's one glaring problem: the two tracks are almost entirely forgettable. Sure, much of what falls under the umbrella of noise and experimental metal is certainly an acquired taste, but bands that kick ass at it still come off as having a very clear, albeit slow-developing, sense of direction. Save for roughly 5-6 minutes of cohesive material in "Survivors Envy the Dead," the latter 75% of this record is just a droning mess. It's confusing as to whether or not anything beyond the shock value of such a drastic change is really trying to be accomplished here. The truth is, it just sounds like the band had an extra half hour of tape to let their guitars aimlessly feedback through a wash of random electronic effects for the majority of the time. If you'd like to treat the first five tracks of 1984 (Eternal) as their own separate entity, Black Arrows' release boils down to a relatively solid grind EP. But the consumer in me says that a record that is this bloated with forgettable content is a tough sell. Bottom Line: Black Arrows of Filth and Impurity's 1984 (Eternal) is a reasonably good fit for both the grind crowd and the chaotic metalcore crowd, provided neither expects the 42 minutes of this release to directly translate into 42 minutes of content. This shows a lot of promise, but it's definitely a mixed bag.