Ashtabula, Ohio, is a port town located at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie, across from the province of Ontario, Canada, and about 60 miles outside Cleveland. According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, the name Ashtabula is derived from ashtepihəle, which means “always enough fish to be shared around” in the Lenape language. But if you were to Google search “Ashtabula”, one of the first results comes from the Urban Dictionary, who define it as, “A city in Ohio known for being more worthless than a pile of shit.”

Whoever came up with that nasty witticism obviously hasn’t been listening to the metal coming out of Ashtabula, which is powerful enough to fracture foundations in Cleveland and send tidal waves across the lake toward Canada. It’s home to Homewrecker, and it’s also ground zero for two other bone-breakers — Crypt Rot and Cringe.

Those two bands are participating in a new split consisting of an EP from each group — Nocturnal Deterioration from Crypt Rot, and Memento Mori from Cringe. The split will be jointly released as a digital download on  February 9 and in a cassette tape edition on February 23 by the sibling labels Redefining Darkness Records and Seeing Red Records. Today we’re bringing you the premiere of a song by each band from this hell-raising split. Continue reading »