The split is called Stagnating, and that might just be a hint at the state of central-European and German screamo. Sure, there's always something brooding in the depths of the underground, but if you're honest, you gotta admit that the glory days are long gone..

If you think back at how big screamo was in our surroundings during the heydays (probably just pure, nostalgic illusions there), with bands like Louise Cyphere, Shikari, Yage, Tristan Tzara, Danse Macabre, Escapado, Jet Black, and so on, it's a shame that the scene seemed to shrink in the last ten to fifteen years here. But the beautiful thing is, that a small bunch of people are always able to change something about that situation and able to leave an impact. That's the magic of DIY-ethics.

What better impact to make than gathering together for a monstrous 5-way split released by some of the most interesting screamo-acts from central Europe, supported by two German labels and backed-up by an American label? 

The two bands that were new to me, start off the LP. First, there's ikigai from Switzerland with four rather short tracks, clocking in at one minute each. They seem to be coming from German-speaking parts of Switzerland, at least their lyrics are in German. And that feels quite nostalgic, with the aforementioned bands in mind. The three piece rip shit up in a thrilling way, though they always find possibilities to drift into playful parts. They also have a 7 track demo from 2023, if you want more. 

Next is apousia from Belgium and the Netherlands with a longer and a shorter track. They're a bit more emo-ish, with post-rock guitars and moody melodies. After the onslaught by the first band, that's a welcome change in pace. The lyrics are in Dutch and it's definitely promising stuff. These two cuts are their first output since 2022's demo.

I'm very happy about the next band, as you mostly don't know if they're still active with those side projects. Albeit, meißel from Karlsruhe, Germany is 2/3 of Lypurá, so this is more than a side project to them. They're following up their excellent EP from 2022. The first song “Zerfetzt“ (Shredded) is pretty much in the fashion of this EP, while “Zersetzt“ (Decomposed) is on the quiet side and thus feels more like a Lypurá-track, though the lines really blur. It's a cool two-song-concept by the two-piece, anyway.

With a split as tight as this, it's ludicrous to speak about standouts... but still, I gotta say that the azzacov songs catches me the most. This is even better than anything on the already great “Fragmente“ LP they released three years ago. The band from Nuremburg, Germany is a force when it comes to this bleak, moody, desperate, fucked up, but also very epic screamo / emoviolence in the fashion of Tristan Tzara or Battle Of Wof 359. This takes me back to the good old times!

To mix things up even more, we get portrëit as the fifth and last band on the split. The guys from Giessen, Germany are playing post-rock-tinged screamo in the best kind of way, recalling forgotten greats of the genre, but enough of the nostalgic namedropping trips! Their “A Sleepwalk Odyssey“ is a shining example of how you do it right, when blending those genres, as the emoviolence-attacks are intense as fuck and the melodies are reduced and unpretentious, resulting in an impressive contrast. A great ending to a phenomenal split record!

Below is just a little taste off of the split, a track from Azzacov titled “Flacker”. Now stop stagnating and grab the digitials in Europe via Zilpzap Records or Dingleberry Records and Friendly Otter has a 12 inch vinyl coming soon for this release as well.