This is the grungiest fucking release of the decade. Just...holy shit. This self-titled mini-album from Leeds based duo Castrovalva will steamroll over your balls and then have the gall to spit in your face. You'll need an aspirin after having finished this 20-minute juggernaut. Castrovalva is basically like watching a monkey coked out of its mind break shit with a baseball bat while air raid sirens blare in the background. That's not meant to be ironic. That's not meant to be pejorative. That's just meant to be true, 'cause this is a blast to listen to. It's a tough call as to whether it would work as an LP, but it works here as a small dose of unbridled insanity. Even the band itself thought that it needed to give its listeners a break considering it threw an ambient track right in the middle and called it 'London Kills Me.' The track acts as a nice breather between the heaviest song here, 'Bison Scissor Kick,' and the oddball-yet-funky 'My Father Bleeds History.'All that said, I can't help but think of Death from Above 1979 when listening to Castrovalva, even while admitting that the two bands are antithetical in their respective approaches: DFA actually writes songs that have, ya know, lyrics and melodies; Castrovalva just wanna bash your head in with a pipe wrench. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's certainly the duo's strength - they know it and play to it like seasoned vets. 'We Don't Go to Ravenholm' and 'Dream Carpet' are a noteworthy pair of songs that illustrate this very point. The former starts off as red herring-ish with its subdued, Dr. Jekyll beginning before the true, heavy-as-fuck Mr. Hyde emerges, while the latter starts off as a grindcore clusterfuck before descending into a rather calm groove. It's glorious, really. There aren't many releases that leave you wondering, "What the hell just happened?" Castrovalva is certainly one of those. Go buy this now. It's just that cool. 90%mp3:> Castrovalva: 'Triceratops' Castrovalva on MySpace