DEAD is a Sludge/Punk/Thrash Metal band from Australia
The Members are: Jem - drums + vox, Jace - Bass + vox
No holiday is complete without
music, and my recent sabbatical to warmer climes has given me the
chance to catch up on some truly demonic tunes. First to fill my
ears with noise was Australia’s sludge/thrash/noise two-piece DEAD,
and their offering ‘Idiots’. On first listening, DEAD remind me
of Death From Above 1979, if they’d been injected with cocaine,
given a Bowie knife and told to fend for themselves in the outback
for a month. Then I listened to them a few more times, and found
them to be filthy, at times jarring, yet strangely compelling to
listen to.
After about two minutes of strange
sonic experimentation, opener ‘The Carcass is Dry’ slaps in with
a bass rhythm filthier than a sewage worker’s toilet brush. Added
to this is some rather disjointed drumming, then the vocals growl
their way into the mix like a wolf coming out from the shadows. As
soon as these elements combine, a mighty explosion of noise and anger
hits you, pushing you back into your seat with its sheer raw
ferocity.
This aggressive first track is
followed up by ‘Couldn’t Keep His Mouth Shut’, which has a
bassline so Goddamn dirty it doesn’t so much as keep the rhythm as
murkily stomp its own timeframe, to which the drums have to obey.
The throaty cries from Jem (the drummer) and Jace (the bassist) of
“please stop crying!” are at once both sinister and
confrontational: they obviously want their victim to cry so they can
suffer the consequences. A very raging tune indeed.
‘UP!’ spasms into life with
a filthy drumbeat that slithers its way into your ear canal like some
sludge-encrusted worm. The verses are like fuses, burning down to
the powder keg choruses that simply pulverise you when they erupt.
The frustration-laden shouts of “see how well you fuck this
UUUUUUUUUP!” are just barbed and venomous. I bet their live shows
are just crazy spectacles. The Aussies are lucky people to get to
see them.
‘Murder Hollow’ begins with
a slow, sludgy riff that sounds like it’s coming from the depths of
a dark, blind alley; its siren call tempting to go further into the
unknown. Then a slow, deliberate beat emanates behind you, and all
too late you realise you’ve become trapped. You’ve been
suckered, and now you are at the mercy of DEAD. The bass strides
cockily towards you with Droog-like menace, the drums slinking beside
it with teeth bared. As the threatening music has you cornered and
makes to strike, it laughs in your face and melts back into the
darkness, leaving you shaken and breathless.
You’re almost instantly
snapped out of your unease when the bass intro to ‘Bed Bugs’
snaps and jitters into violent life. It’s a wild and frantic tune:
the sonic depiction of a mosh pit in full flow. I have to say, both
bass and drums are in fine form here: fast, frenetic and feverish,
it’s a perfect tune to get your blood racing and your body moving.
With 25-second drum intro, ‘Inherit
the Wind’ bursts upon you with a spray of violent vocals and
bristling basslines. The song itself has a body of hardcore punk
with a spine of sludge, making it a very vicious-sounding beast.
Final track ‘Lego Men’ is a
near-eleven minute aural odyssey of simmering aggression and strange,
slow murk. Vocals only kick in near the four-minute mark, the lyrics
meticulous and measured. It all adds to the feeling that you are
being inexorably sucked down into a bog in the foggiest, most
isolated swampland you can think of. A very dark and strange ending
to a very dark and strange album.
DEAD is filth, and I say that in the
most complimentary way possible. The two-piece are raw, pulsing with
potential and brimming with evil talent. ‘Idiots’ is a crazy,
weird, awesome LP, and worthy of any sludge aficionado’s attention.
Get on it.
Written by Chris Markwell
Idiots is now available to buy from WeEmptyRooms Records.
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