Stream Mališa Bahat & Zmar’s Ferocious New Split

Stream Mališa Bahat & Zmar’s Ferocious New Split

I don’t understand how the British Columbia indie label Zegema Beach can possibly function. The label operates almost exclusively within the world of screamo — the convulsive and emotionally wracked hardcore subgenre that’s been having a bit of a revival lately — and it puts out so much music. Once a week, something new seems to pop up on the Zegema Beach Bandcamp. Usually, it’s worth hearing. In recent weeks, the label has dropped heaters from France’s Lorne Malvo, Indiana’s Coma Regalia, and Houston’s Mouthing, among many others. Earlier this year, Zegema Beach was also involved in releasing Infant Island’s towering Sepulcher EP. Zegema Beach is the rare label where it’s probably a good idea to just hit play on everything they put out, whether or not you’ve heard of the bands involved.

Case in point: Zegema Beach has just released a new split from Mališa Bahat and Zmar, two bands I know nothing about. Mališa Bahat come from Zagreb, Croatia, and they released an album called Thus Far last year. Their sound is jagged and chaotic, and they remind me a bit of Portrayal Of Guilt. They’ve got three songs on this split, and all of them go hard.

But I might prefer the two new joints from Zmar, a Prague band who released a self-titled album in 2018. Zmar’s lyrics are in Czech, and their sound is a slow, epic tidal-churn roar. Both of the songs on the split make me feel like I’m hanging onto a church spire in a hurricane. Listen to the split below.

The Mališa Bahat/Zdar split is out now on Zegema Beach, and you can order it at Bandcamp.

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