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Sayyadina: The Great Northern Revisited Grindcore Relapse Records March 16th, 2010
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Review
Originally, when this release hit the inbox, hopes of a fresh Relapse Records release for 2010 rose, since pretty much every release up to this point was simply a reissue of out of print Metal material. However, the word that tripped up this hope was "Revisited" in the title. Sure enough, upon checking the information sheet included with the release, The Great Northern Revisited is a CD of material originally released on splits, EPs, and other such materials. This becomes all the more obvious as you listen to it thanks to there being varying audio levels on this release. While the epidemic of reissued material in 2010 is a heavy one, at least this is a nice little collector's piece that includes material that fans of the band have a higher chance of not owning. Either way, this compilation of Sayyadina tracks is still an impressive release for fans of Grindcore. As stated, some of the material on here varies in quality. Much of the start of the release keeps one continuous quality, but it changes to a much lower sounding production on "Someday I Will Kill", and again at "Downfall" with what sounds like another change around "Confrontation", as well as "Confrontation". There may be other changes between these obvious shifts in production quality, but if so they are very minor and hard to pick up on. This can, however, get a little irritating as you progress through the release, but the quality never really gets to the point where you need to up the volume of the album to enjoy it, unless you started the album out on a very low volume anyhow. The material on here, for being a collection of tracks for splits and EPs, is very heavy and really good. However, tracks such as "Instrumental 1" and "Instrumental 2", as well as "Downfall", seem absolutely pointless in the first place and come off moreso as tracks recorded by the band either as a joke, or simple space filler. Aside that, there's also the track "Civilization" which just doesn't stack up to the rest of the serious material. But, there are plenty of intense tracks on here that fans of well known acts like Nasum or even early Pig Destroyer would enjoy. This could be due to the fact that Sayyadina is actually comprised of former band members from Victims, General Surgery and, with no surprise, Nasum. The member's past band experience definately does show through on this release. For example, "Black Rose" is a very intense track that really stands out on the album, really coming off as the best track on the release next to the impressive "Oppression", which is where the release starts to really shine through thanks to some more complexity in the music, some well executed change ups in the speed, as well as a much more energetic performance being captured and aided by the rather raw recording quality. This holds it's own up to and including the last track, "Last Days Make the Least", rounding out an exceptional and addicting end to the album. However, it's the longer tracks like "Mid Livert Som Insats" and "Stagnation" that really show through on the release, as there's absolutely no repetition on them, which is something many would fear given many of these tracks are around one minure in length, maybe a minute and a half if pushing it. "Stagnation" is another track worth checking out thanks to it's blistering pace and ability to slow down into a more mid-tempo track to close out the song on a slower note that works well with the material. There are other tracks like this on here, but not many, and sometimes aren't quite as effective, though still highly enjoyable. The Great Northern Revisited is a great collection of various studio tracks that are now hard to find, or just considered b-side material. If you have never heard of Sayyadina before, then now is your time to check it out. With only a few songs on here that really should never have been recorded in the first place, it's a safe bet the this release will not leave your CD player for a good while. With a track listing of roughly thirty tracks, with roughly twenty seven of them actually being worth the money, there's still enough material here to make you grind until the sun goes down, then comes up again.
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