An oldschool Metal attack by two young bands. The two-man Rust from Sweden was formed in 2006, and has since made two EP's before this split. Based on their info-section on the EP, their side of the split was taken from their "Rite of the Grave"-EP from 2009. DungeönHammer is a two-man band from France and Holland, and have been active for just a year. This is their debut release, and in the near future they'll make a split with Purgatör and possibly take part on a Bathory-tribute compilation.
DungeönHammer's songs have a surprisingly mid-pace tempo for most of their lenght, which surprised me at first. Their expression is based on a nice and sturdy bass guitar creating a clear rhythm and pulse for the songs, leaving a bit more room for the crude and splash-heavy drum work to widen the soundscape and add some energy to the songs more freely. The guitars are quite low-tuned and damp, and they create some simplistic and repetition-based riffs that have an interesting, primitive rocking groove in them; just a bit reminiscent of some faster doom metal. On an occasion the guitars go into executing a more high-pitched, calm and controlled solo with a good oldschool feel and a great dust-covered atmosphere. The vocals are echoed, low, hoarse and speech-like, and their one-dimensional sound fits in more than great.
There's something very interesting about this band. It's proto-Black Metal is so authentically primitive and oldschool, and the two songs really sound like they were the spontaneous result of rehearsal jamming - which is most likely how they really came to be, too. Also, the sounds are crude; the drum plates are edgy, raw and hissing, the string instruments sound dusty and damp, as do the vocals. It takes a bit until one learns to wholly appreciate the band's style, but when the listener is caught to the band's neanderthal groove and vocals, topped with cobweb-covered solos, there's not really much you'd change in the band's output. I doubt that this wouldn't work in a longer form without some additional spice and a deeper, more multi-faceted soundscape, but as a short taste like this the songs work fine. It'll be interesting to see where the band goes from here. 8 / 10
Rust's side is oldschool Black Thrash worship. The songs are mostly fast with just a bit slower mid-part, crude and somewhat simplistic, and rely on the oldschool "evil" sound and the riffs' primitive catchiness and appeal; it's rocking but thrashy. The soundscape is pleasantly raw and a bit damp, but also powerful and very fitting, and the vocalist's hoarse croaks and shouts sung in the usual rhythmic thrashy way really finalize the retro-feeling. The bass guitar's damp but sturdy pounding teams up nicely with the shredding guitar, and the very organic and balanced-sounding drums give the songs a sturdy backbone.
Even though the songs have a good dose of energy and dedication, they lack original ideas and personality - their own character, more precisely said. The songs start to wear out too soon. Even though they do their worship very well down to their visual side and the authentic 80's "Evil Metal" lyrics and leave many other similar bands behind, they still lack the something that would me want to listen to Rust instead of the other acts that walk the same path. A very recommendable listen every now and then, but would this work on a longer release? Nonetheless, a strong 7½ / 10 for the dedication, attitude, and the authentic atmosphere.
The release is rather stylish and very fittingly executed visually. It's gatefold package made of sturdy cardboard with no gloss, so the release and it's images look just a bit dark and crudely done which fits more than well to the split's oldschool nature. As for the layout, Rust delivers the rather usual campfire and candlelight, but it's what their music is about and it's not too badly executed either. DungeönHammer should really focus on their visual side, as now it all looks rather dull and shoddily done. The decent cover image alone cannot take care of the whole visual side, and for the lack of lyrics.
Overall this split is a good buy, as it presents two promising and equally good oldschool metal acts, both of which boasts a great deal of attitude as well. It's clear that both of these bands have to evolve and develop their style further to really stand out from the other similar acts, but their attitude and dedication make up for it for now.