Proffering thicker-than-thou tones and churning filth-laden plod, the debut cassingle from Hands I Annul Yours — despite being instrumental but for a couple samples — makes no attempt to soften its perspective. With just the two tracks, “Asking for Death” and “Grind Humanity,” the limited-to-100-copies red-tape release on Major Destroyer Records nests itself in the bowels of misanthropic sludge riffing, raging in a way that would seem to contradict its lumbering pace but winds up fitting right in with it.

The two-piece outfit of Kyle Anderson and Blake Jette (Mike Mulen seems also to have been involved in production and art) recorded Asking for Death/Grind Humanity. Beginning with a sample of cult leader Michael Travesser from the documentary Inside a Cult, “Asking for Death” lunges for the eardrums with tonal largesse and formidable crash, gradually unfolding to what actually winds up being the more accessible of the two central instrumental progressions on the tape before devolving into noise and more sampling. “Grind Humanity” is slower and begins more straightforwardly, but winds up mired in noisy, droning fuckall that even more than Travesser‘s disparaging the empty frivolities of modern living speak to Hands I Annul Yours‘ feelings on the subject.

Notes are held and droned out and crashes are well-timed. Before the halfway point, an echoing sample provides transition into the faster second half of the track, a build that climbs to a righteously heavy peak before cutting back to washes of feedback noise that last over the course of a long minute-plus fade. The whole thing is over in just about 10 minutes (unless you’ve got your tape player set on continuous), but Hands I Annul Yours leave a lasting impression nonetheless. Info on the band is sparse — they recorded in Minnesota and this is a one-time-only pressing — and no real bio pops up on Major Destroyer‘s page or Bandcamp site, so their overall presence is minimal, and likely on purpose. It would almost be out of character with the music if Hands I Annul Yours wanted to be found.

But if you’re telling me you’ve got a red, 100-copies-only one-time pressing of a killer obscure sludge band’s demo, and it gives me an excuse to type the word “cassingle,” I’m telling you sign me up. So yeah, sign me up. Tape also comes with a download. This shit rules: