“I believe Heaven and Hell are one and the same.”
Seems like we were just here, huh? For anyone who somehow missed the memo, bottom surgery is fresh off another meticulously discombobulating sensorfest as of last month. To throw another wrench in the hyperstimulation pile, enter a split effort between them and Oklahoma City-based cybergrind soloist chokingonblood. Anyone who has ever so much as whiffed the silicon macabre of cybergrind knows a headfirst dive into a dopamine-enriched twilight zone awaits them. However, bottom surgery and chokingonblood continue to patent a unique circuit board of intricate variation in a space where kitchen sink sensibility is the default. cyber bestie blood extravaganza has just about everything from slams (?!?) to disc scratches, on top of yet another resounding addition to bottom surgery and chokingonblood‘s catalog, which appears to grow on a monthly cadence.
bottom surgery‘s meniacal conventions have been well-established at this juncture, so it’s only fitting to exchange Terminator blows with someone as equally frenzied. chokingonblood introduces shades of The Acacia Strain, Suffocation, and PeelingFlesh into the fold with a litany of hardcore-adjacent slam riffs on their one-two punch combo of “ishould’vebeenadentist” and “seduction&death“. Also, who needs an equalizer? chokingonblood ensures that launching atom bomb bass drops atop all the aforementioned chaos is at the forefront of every ADHD-riddled listener’s scrambled cranium that will inevitably pop an addy and crank this up to a thousand. There’s a lot of talk (and justified ridicule) about sectional purists in metal who think genre amalgamation is the worst creative decision bands can make, but can anyone dare talk shit about something this well-executed and melded? We all experience our fair share of personal revelations, yet slam-infused cybergrind might unironically be the pinnacle of “something I never knew I needed”.
For those too close-minded to stand any semblance of slam and cybergrind in the same vicinity (go find a hobby), don’t worry – Alyce Smith and Stefan Iglesias are still biting off every hunk of distorted bedlam they can. With more high-pitched screams and approaches to contorted disarray than a daddy issue-themed rave event, bottom surgery have once again pulled out all the stops. Normandy Beach turret gun drums and garbage disposal lows also dominate much of the sonic landscapes of “blood sucking abomination” and “six one seven“, and those all-too-familiar Smith black metal vocals are accounted for to boot. We are long past the point where it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect that similar acts would’ve resigned themselves to one-dimensional output after achieving half of the discography bottom surgery has pumped out in aggregate. Yet, Smith and Iglesias still manage to unearth nuanced technicality with every release. Are we certain AI in music should be the chief concern when hybrid cyborgs like bottom surgery and chokingonblood exist?
cyber bestie blood extravaganza takes a calculated risk, if only to be based on the divergence in influence elicited from bottom surgery and chokingonblood. The underground scene, for all its community-centered aspects, tends to be gatekept beyond reason. The former is sometimes a necessary evil that regretably devolves into contrarian superiority on the basis of thinking that every opinion someone holds is correct. Cybergrind is not only one of the most diverse sections of the musical hypogeal, but just as expansive in terms of the people behind it. If there is any categorical release that can negate what’s otherwise the chief concern of meshing genres, it’s cyber bestie blood extravaganza.
bottom surgery and chokingonblood knew the risks and weathered this storm without any hesitation or lack of grit. There’s integrity seeping from start to finish on cyber bestie blood extravaganza, and it’s a full reflection of the headstrong individuals conceptualizing the sound. Both acts operate with a “zero fucks given” attitude that’s made more clear with every iteration in their artistic repertoire, and there truly looks to be no conceivable ceiling in terms of how far bottom surgery and chokingonblood can continue to build upon this momentum going forward.
