Single Review – Osmium Guillotine vs The Tickturds, Split EP

Heavy metal and punk rock go head to head on this split EP from two bands from the county of Essex in the UK, The Tickturds and Osmium Guillotine.The split EP was released at the tail end of last month and it features five tracks, including a brand new song Imitators, co-written and co-performed by all members from both The Tickturds and Osmium Guillotine. Also on this Split EP are two tracks from each band, a couple of original songs, Wasteland Warriors 2099 by Osmium Guillotine, and Pointless by The Tickturds, and a cover of each other band’s songs, one punked up metal song, City of Chaos and one metalled up punk song, Mr Angry.

The closest thing I can compare Osmium Guillotine to is the spoof rock band Bad News, that was essentially a British version of the legendary Spinal Tap, the track featuring both bands even ends with excerpts from the riffs of two well known rock songs to add to the parody feel of the song. The other two contributions from Osmium Guillotine continue the feeling that they don’t take themselves too seriously, and the Bad News comparisons continue with the spoken introduction to Wasteland Warriors. The Tickturds are a back to basics punk band featuring fuzzy hard edged riffs, to me they sound like the kind of generic punk band that surfaced in the early eighties, there’s nothing particularly wrong with that but it’s now 2016, and to me recreating the past just seems to be a tad pointless.

I will always try and encourage the grass roots scenes of alternative music, but sometimes it’s difficult as neither band on this EP is one that appeals to me. Osmium Guillotine are rooted in heavy metal of the early eighties and The Tickturds seem to be based in the same era’s punk scene, as much as I enjoy a flashback from time to time this isn’t an EP that I can find any positives in. Their cause isn’t helped by the production on the EP, everything sounds like a recording of a rehearsal session and I’m just left wondering what the point was.