It’s hard to believe that twenty years have passed since two of the bleakest purveyors of doomed psychosis, namely Noothgrush and Corrupted, unleashed thirty-five minutes of suffering. Perhaps thought buried by grime and rust, this much sought-after split LP has now been excavated in 2017 and given a fresh layer of tar via remastered audio and new artwork. Today there are countless bands mining every single facet of what is mostly incorrectly called doom. This split reminds us that “sludge,” doom’s most nihilistic offshoot, wasn’t about upbeat warm waves of “stoner” riffs and top-dollar vintage tees, but about landfills of hatred, misery and self-loathing, a total negation of life and a completely uncompromising and untrendy sound—music that wants to punish you and itself. Oakland’s Hal Rotter provides the split with new art appropriately conveying the grim atmosphere within and Brad Boatright’s remaster enhances the all consuming dread that makes even the bleakest Vitus moments sound cheerful by comparison.