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Here we have that venerable stalwart of the underground – the split EP. This is three tracks from Death/Black band Withdrawn and then three tracks from Death Metal band Demented, both of them from Bordeaux, France. The French scene was completely awesome about ten years ago, though it has faded since, and only recently shown new signs of life.

Withdrawn are up first with a pummeling, blaring assault of melodic riffage and blasting drums. Their guitar sound is more Black Metal, while their drum work is pure Death Metal. Vocals are mixed low and through a lot of effects, so they sound like a deep-throated rumble under the music. This has tremendous energy and a lot of aggression, but the three songs do kind of run together.

Demented are a more straight-up Death Metal creation, with an almost Swedish guitar tone that lacks punch, and a lot of fiddly technicality to their riffs. This is not bad, but it does not really have the songwriting chops to be good, and lacks the recording punch or energy to overcome that. Average.