Metal Underground.com

Although "Splatterhash" only contains four songs, two for each band, as its name suggests the split is chocked full of ghouls, goblins, and ganja. The two bands in question - Cannabis Corpse and Ghoul - hail from opposites sides of the States. Ghoul's style is all over the place, while CC sticks to the classic Florida death metal sound. However, once Ghoul makes its sanguinary debut three tracks into the album, no one will confuse the band with its puffy-eyed predecessors.

Both bands share a horror comic book connection, and CC is comic in the classic "ha-ha" sense. Even those unfamiliar with the Cannibal Corpse references may find the stories contained in songs like "Shatter Their Bongs" funny (depending on the sickened depravity of your humor). While CC has branched out on former albums to include bloody-resin-caked renditions of songs by death metal legend besides Cannibal Corpse, "Splatterhash" returns to the skunk-y glorification of its namesake.

"The Inhalation Plague" riffs on Cannibal's "The Evisceration Plague." Mid tempos, guitar harmonics and Land Phil's vocals are a dead ringer for the band being parodied, at least during the first half minute. Around the 1:20 mark, though, the group moves in a direction of its own, breaking down the tempo and alternating drum beats with guitar harmonics. On "Shatter Their Bongs," Phil's bass provides the type of clang-y backdrop and dexterity that made Alex Webster famous. The drum beats wax and wane, but the stop-n-start ringing guitar chords lend this track a bleak aura: every stoner must bereave the passing of a glass bong!

"Inner Sanctum" shows Ghoul start its side of the album with a chugging maneuver seemingly lifted from the book of Celtic Frost. From there, the group moves through various corridors of extreme metal, often customizing the tempo to each vocalist's change in pitch. The vocals change from fang-y, shrieking tones, to putrid death metal growls, all the way down to old school Carcass/Repulsion-esque pitch shifters. My personal favorite section occurs around the 2:00 minute mark with a catchy, German-like thrash metal chord progression (think Destruction). The group is by no means one-dimensional on the next track "Spill Your Guts," but makes grindcore the most obvious style. The D-beat rhythms on this track fit well with the gory chorus lines. It's a fun listen with a nostalgic whiff of Autopsy's grind-ier days in Abscess.

CC and Ghoul have both made a name in the modern, extreme metal community. For this reason, I don't really need to tell their fans this is something they should pick up. "Splatterhash" doesn't show a deviation of style by both bands. Even though the recording is just a roach-clip sampling, the small portions will leave you feeling like you're stoned...and then leave you feeling like you were stoned with real rocks!