It has been a long five and a half years since we first posted and lusted over the Skool’s In EP from Norwegian trio Deathcrush and that it is only now that their debut album is with us. But it is a wait and anticipation that Megazone voraciously rewards with nine feral slices of the band’s inimitable and enthralling noise punk/ death pop tempestuousness.
Distinctly unique to the Oslo outfit since day one, the Deathcrush sound has only escalated its distinct character as it has evolved and blossomed to greater heights as embraced by Megazone. Each track within the album is a fusion of invitation and warning, all a magnetic lure into the dissonance and threat of a world in chaos. Yet their infectiousness means you want indeed need to be there surrounded by the virulence of their arousing trespasses.
The trio of vocalist/guitarist Linn Nystadnes, bassist/vocalist Pelle Bamle, and vocalist/drummer Vidar Evensen relish their music’s instinctive catchiness within album opener EGO. The song offers a hug of warmth and calm poppiness which is never quite repeated across the release again; an individual dance of temptation which just glows on the senses as vocals caress around the tenebrific stroll of bass. Even so there is a underlying darkness which gathers and festers as the track builds its tension, a sonic dissonance that corrupts the light if not the song’s resonance and contagiousness.
The great start is swiftly escalated by the caustic winds of PushPushPush. Guitars are a scathing insight as Evensen’s animated rhythms rally and assault the senses, all the while Nystadnes’ tones a belligerent match to the toxic flames of her stringed insurgency. Gripping attention, the track scars as it enamours though it is soon eclipsed in personal tastes by the bewitching Khmer Rich. Almost prowling the listener even with its excited stroll, the song simply entangled the imagination in its corrosively incandescent web whilst the body bounced to its nagging punk catchiness.
As the song outdid its predecessor, so Dumb left it in the shade a touch with its communicable dance and discord. Again drone and incessant nagging makes up the irresistible character and insistence of a Deathcrush song, its repetitive but adventurous persistence a voraciously crawling incitement proving so easy to devour before Filthy Street casts its own magnetic sonic austerity; it too something which stalks as it seduces while throbbing resonance springs from Bamle’s bass infestation. Unsurprisingly the song’s sound and breath echoes the landscape of its title, getting into every pore and corner of the psyche like aural pestilence and igniting both for richer pleasure.
Bedsit is next up, its malignant pop an evocation and infestation of soulless exposure with a great underlying Pixies-esque bewitchment while Trust Me follows with its particular punk noise prowl, one as with all tracks which can be taken into intimate or broader interpretations and reflections as the music only gathers in a momentum of temptation.
It proved hard to choose a main favourite amongst all the tracks within Megazone but the final pair of Daemon with its infernal melodic flames and mordant breath and State of the Union makes persistent claims. To be honest the last track steals it at the death; its rhythmic contagion alone pure manna to these ears and unerring hypnotic bait which vocal dexterity and the spellbinding drone around it respectively ride and cling to for certain rapture.
For many reasons we did expect to enjoy Megazone but it still left us far more impressed and breathless than we could have imagined. We really should not have been surprised after all this is Deathcrush and they are no strangers to harrying noise, imagination, and boundaries.
Megazone is out now via Apollon Records.
http://www.deathcrush.no/ https://www.facebook.com/deathcrushbaby https://twitter.com/deathcrushbaby
Pete RingMaster 21/06/2019
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The EP’s title track follows, seducing with its volatile first breath before chaining attention with appetite feeding hooks and loaded rock ‘n’ roll. The rhythmic trespass of bassist Simon Oliver Økland and drummer Sigurd Haakaas is as infectious as it is punishingly incisive with the guitar of Yngve Andersen equally as animated and mercurial within the caress of keys. A fiery slice of temptation it craftily backs up the potency of its predecessor and the dextrous antics of next up No Thank You, I’m More In To Fake Grindcore. It too aligns instinctive rock boisterousness with its punk instincts, imagination lining every rabid twist and provocative turn.
Old school rockabilly seeds the following dark seduction of She’s Strange, its dark lures and senses winding coaxing a devilish virus of sound and temptation while the skilfully voracious Rattle Rock Stomp simply unleashes restrained but barely contained bedlam in its rivetingly compelling swing. Dan’s vocals alone just infest the senses and pleasure fuelled appetite but add the ever resourceful and devious scything beats of Naomi and the almost corrosive clamour of guitar and it is manna for certainly these ears.
Let The Devil In Your Soul is another encounter which stalks the senses, its keen but controlled stroll belying a predatory nature taking swipes through the poised but examining beats of Naomi and the angular clamour of Dan’s guitar. With his vocals a soothing but equally volatile enticement, it is again impossible not to be hooked on the song’s seduction or indeed in turn on the more tempestuous instrumental rumble of Death Valley Driver which follows. It is an unrelenting road trip which has the body in motion and thoughts conjuring, both aspects again busily employed by the cinematic suggestiveness of The Love In Me. Like a sweaty kitchen sink drama, the song is a bare and honest hug of sound and emotion, its lines fuzzy and touch raw and oh so tempting. Even so, the great song is still eclipsed by the breath-taking stomp of Sweet Sixteen; a scuzz ball of rock ‘n’ roll woven from the decades of the genre and delivered with a fried electricity and concussive energy which leaves the senses reeling and blissful.
Released via Godz Ov War Productions / Mythrone Promotion, Enlightenment by Bloodletting is opened up by Turbocharged, the trio of vocalist/bassist Ronnie “Ripper” Olson, guitarist Old Nick, and drummer Freddie Fister imposing Bloodletting on ears. From the moment a wiry groove entangles the senses as concussive rhythms begin to cantankerously stir, attention and pleasure is ignited. As the song’s blasphemy grows, so does the thick lure of bass and riffs around the grouchy tones of Olson, backed in voracious kind by the rest of the band. At its core, the track is unbridled punk ‘n’ roll, a testy examination of body and emotions wrapped in searing sonic enterprise and irritable intensity driven to greater corruption by the merciless beats and dexterity of Fister.
Hellstörm, guitarist Bestial Avenger, bassist Corpsebutcher, and drummer Mortar, the Kraków hailing quartet similarly launch at ears with venomous intent. Instantly, barbarous rhythms collude with bitter riffery as Hellstörm’s vocals spill squalling toxicity upon the now contagious and compelling onslaught of sound. Again it is easy to describe the core of the song as virulent rock ‘n’ roll entangled in the invasive dexterity and invention of the band, but it is a description which really does sum up the galvanic and invigorating violation on offer.
a breath before sending a tsunami of riffs and rhythms crashing down on the ear with the title track, the scowling growls of Ripper instantly there to scold the senses. Soon into its stride the track is a punk infested scourge of guitar and drums with the bass adding extra unkind menace to proceedings. Littered with glorious anthemic gang chants and sharp bladed grooves the track also shifts through varied gait and intensity which seamlessly moves from breakneck adrenaline driven rampage to lumbering almost suffocating death throes and back again. It is a staggering start which is occasionally equalled but always challenged across the album.