It has been eight long years since Oakland’s Brainoil released their self-titled debut LP via Life Is Abuse. Back then, their combination of crushingly oppressive but up-tempo sludge and Oakland hardcore punk was well regarded in the underground and saw the band tour both domestically and abroad. Subsequently, members Greg Wilkinson, Ira Harris and Nathan Smith all drifted toward myriad other projects, and Brainoil, though not officially dead, was put on ice.  The band regrouped slowly over these last few years, resulting in Brainoil’s first batch of tunes for the new decade. Death of This Dry Season picks up the furious hardcore sludge sound for which Brainoil is well known as though they’d never left. A little older and a little wiser, Death of This Dry Season is a short, sharp shock of intense aural battery, like an amalgamation of other ugly sounding Bay Area stalwarts such as Abscess, El Dopa and Black Cobra, yet never enough like anyone else to pinpoint a direct influence. This can only be named Brainoil. Continuing 20 Buck Spin’s long support of bands from their original East Bay Area home base, the label is glad to help re-introduce Brainoil to the current underground scene’s many adherents both old and new. Death of This Dry Season marks a welcome and inexorable return to form by one of Oakland’s most noted acts and will see the band playing shows near and far throughout the year. The artwork on the LP is courtesy of FEEDING (Jon Kortland from Iron Lung with his partner Nic Schmidt) and includes a mind-bending 24-inch by 24-inch poster insert created especially for this release in the instantly recognizable FEEDING style.