During the pandemic era, when shows (mostly) aren’t happening, hardcore hasn’t exactly ground to a halt. Instead, a lot of people — including people whose other bands might otherwise keep them too busy — have been forming new projects and putting out new music. Today, two new pandemic-era hardcore bands from different sides of the Atlantic, have joined forces on a new split, and that split is so hard.

The American band on the new Worldwide Brotherhood split is Gridiron, a new project made up of members of Never Ending Game, Year Of The Knife, and Payback. All of those bands are heavy hitters, and in Gridiron, they make thunderingly ignorant beat-down with rap-metal cadences and death-metal blastbeats. Gridiron put out their debut cassette Loyalty At All Costs in October, and their two songs on the new split are reckless knuckle-dragger chugs.

Gridiron share that split with the Scottish band Despize, who have released a couple of demos in the past year and who also make wild-eyed blood-soaked beatdown. I honestly have no idea which of these two bands comes off harder on this split. That cover art should give you a good idea what to expect here. This is running-through-brick-walls music. Check it out below.

Worldwide Brotherhood is out now on From Within/Northern Unrest.