Generally, a split release is a good way for one act to build a bridge to another. When bands team up, it’s not just about putting their own material out there, but also about joining forces with a community and saying, “This represents us too.” One imagines that if there was anything drawing British sludge riffers Lazarus Blackstar and German post-metallurgists Black Shape of Nexus together, it wasn’t so much the desire to build a bridge as the shared affinity for laying waste to infrastructure in general. This coming February, they’ll issue two sides of sonic oblivion via Alerta Antifascista Records that highlights both the commonalities and the differences between the two acts.

In the case of Lazarus Blackstar, their two extended inclusions — “Command and Control” and “Whispering through Broken Teeth” — continue the pummeling course that was found on their 2012 third full-length, Hymns for the Cursed. The British outfit will mark a decade under their moniker in 2014 (they started out earlier as Khang), and the 10 years of experience bleed into both these tracks in thick tones, deviations into deathly gurgles, and the glee with which the five-piece seem to jump to either side of an extreme sensibility. Concocting a massive lurch in “Command and Control,” they move a bit faster initially in “Whispering through Broken Teeth,” but though they slow down later, the even bigger shift is in the inclusion of Mellotron sounds in the song’s second half along with cleaner, chanting vocals.

The 11-minute “Honor Found in Delay” from Black Shape of Nexus has the distinction of being not only a ridiculously clever reference — you’ll recall the name of the last Neurosis record — but also the longest song present, and the atmosphere and effects live up to both the name and the allusion. There’s a linear build throughout and a near-constant feeling of propulsion that emerges, reminding some of Souls at Zero‘s unmitigated intensity, while “Always and Only” a more straightforward root in its undulating noise rock groove, like the creeping moments in latter-day Unsane, and builds to a suitably bombastic, feedback-drenched conclusion, throaty screams seeming to be swallowed by the distorted morass from which they emerged as a rising swirl and concluding sample from 1984 takes hold.

As a conclusion, that one at least fits with the band and label’s stated anti-fascist stance — “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever” — and given the melee of noise preceding, it’s an image that works on multiple levels. It might take a few listens for the full brunt of the Lazarus Blackstar and Black Shape of Nexus tracks to sink in, but considering the split doesn’t come out for another two months, there’s plenty of time. Check out all four songs on the player below, and please enjoy:

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Lazarus Blackstar and Black Shape of Nexus‘ split is set for release Feb. 13, 2014, on Alerta Antifascista Records in an initial pressing of 500 (100 grey, 100 white, 300 black) 180g vinyl with heavy stock cover and obi strip. Info and updates at the links.

Lazarus Blackstar on Thee Facebooks

Black Shape of Nexus on Thee Facebooks

Alerta Antifascista Records

Alerta Antifascista Records on Bandcamp