Fiber « The RingMaster Review

It is two years since Atlanta outfit Dead Register not only thrilled but truly captivated us with debut album Fiber. It was a collection of tracks bred in the rich essences of doom, gothic, and post rock but equally embraced many more flavours to create something as unique as you could imagine or wish. Twenty four or so months on we still cannot truly define their sound or want to as that would be to sterilise its originality and fertility, both as rampant and captivating in the band’s new offering, Captive.

Every word in praise of Fiber by us and so many others can be echoed with zeal in regard to the Captive EP, but not only repeated but escalated as its five tracks venture to mouth-watering new heights in the imaginative craft and inventive prowess of Dead Register. The new EP sees percussionist/drummer Danny Ryann (ex-Gigan) alongside vocalist/bassist M. Chvasta and his wife, Avril Che on bass synth, keys, and backing vocals; Dan Dixon (Whores, The Life and Times, PLS PLS, Biters) recording, mixing, and mastering their now proposition.

Captive opens up with its title track, a dark mist springing the lumbering gait of the song but a funereal step soon wrapped in romancing melodies as a shadow bred atmosphere descends. Magnetic rhythms are swiftly courted by the ever potent and alluring tones of Chvasta, both in turn hugged by the heavy emotive doom gaze breath of the track. Haunting and mesmeric, the song continues to seduce and impose, drama soaking very brooding note and harmonic utterance trespassing and seducing the senses.

It is a highly tantalising and increasingly captivating beginning to the release and one as powerfully continued by next up Ender. A song exploring love and loss and “a reminder to savor even the most mundane idiosyncrasies that “make” our loved ones who they are”, a premise easy to relate to, it rousingly smoulders in ears and thoughts but a thick simmer with volatility which only enriches its emotional incitement and a sound with Type O Negative/Nine Inch Nails hues. There is also a breath to the track and its successors which reminds of eighties band, The Sound; an instinctively downbeat almost depressive yet rousing dark essence which is especially apparent in the fiercely infectious Heresy. From its predacious nagging bassline to the sonic tendrils and Chvasta’s transfixing vocals, the track is pure temptation as virulently catchy as it is melancholically consuming.

A riveting cover of the Dead and Gone track Blood from a Ghost follows, Dead Register infusing it with a voraciously dark elegance without defusing its raw heart and anguish. Few covers in our experience improve on the original but the threesome certainly flirts with that success before Monochrome completes the aural mastery of Captive with its own tenebrific majesty soaked in emotive dissonance. A breath-taking and arousing yet corrosive romance, the track is a maelstrom of destruction and tenderness and quite irresistible.

It is a spellbinding prowess which devours the whole of Captives and feeds the infatuation we have already found for the band. If in our words Fiber was “dark magic, emotional trespassing, and quite wonderful”, Captive is pure aural alchemy and one of the year’s essential encounters.

Captive is released November 2^nd; available @ https://deadregister.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/deadregister

Pete RingMaster 02/11/2018

pic Joe Sands

The inability to pin down the Dead Register sound is almost as enjoyable as the music itself and the expansive web of flavours making it up. The Atlanta trio weave a tapestry which seems simultaneously made up of essences from gothic and death rock, post punk and dark pop, doom and post rock and more. As shown by debut album Fiber, the richness of those textures is a genre crossing emprise of craft and imagination. Yet there is something easily accessible to its busy body of imagination igniting invention and atmospheric drama too, an almost familiar presence which still defies recognition. The result of it all is a release which has a uniqueness few can emulate and a fascination which simply seduces ears and emotions.

Formed in 2013, Dead Register began as the creative union of vocalist/bassist M. Chvasta (ex-Palaces; ex-Light Pupil Dilate) and his wife Avril Che (bass synth, textures, keys, backing vocals). The programmed rhythmic side of the project was replaced the following year by Chad Williams (ex-Magnapop) with a wave of writing and subsequently the live honing of songs live following. Bringing six of their favourite tracks together, Dead Register now release Fiber; an introduction which bewitches and challenges in equally compelling manner.

From its first moments, Fiber is a leviathan of monolithic, doom infused temptation sparking and feeding off the imagination. It manages to be imposing, bordering portentous, but with an infectious virulence and emotively melodic character of sound which does not so much temper its dark side but blossoms in its embrace. It all starts with Alone and a lone and slim melancholic melody. It is the spark for a doom loaded awakening of raw riffs and a deliciously gravelly bass groan. A suggestive ambience lays in its shadows too before the instantly impressing tones of Chvasta’s croon and the rhythmic shuffle of Williams help unveil new depths in the outstanding encounter’s increasing emotion and drama. Che’s harmonies float like gossamer in that air whilst the track takes on a Southern Death Cult meets Modern English meets Swans presence across almost ten minutes of sonic and vocal bliss.

Dead Register Fiber Cover Art_RingMasterReview It’s impressive and gripping presence is matched in might by the album’s title track next. From its initial grouchy growl in metallic riffs and bass lures, the song has ears and thoughts thickly involved with an intimidating creative theatre and emotive exploration. It gently nags and openly immerses the senses in a slightly corrosive but engaging proposal, everything about it a skilful and imaginative merger of contrasts. Rhythms are irritable yet rousing, melodies poetic against almost ravenous sonic atmospherics, and Chvasta’s beguiling voice the descriptive haven within a tempestuous climate and raw wind.

A mouth-watering post punk incitement opens up the rhythmically irresistible Drawing Down next; it continuing to make ripe appearances within the evocative landscape and post rock/ gloom-gaze heart of the third track. At times there are spices sparking thoughts of bands like Echo and The Bunnymen and The Birthday Party, other times a surge of invention hinting at a Godflesh or Palms, but all strands within the band’s captivating ingenuity linked by the ever impressing vocals and the tenaciously seducing rhythms.

Grave offers the darkest, dankest climate of the album so far, its atmosphere almost clinging to the senses as guitars and bass cast emotively picturesque lures serenaded by the rich expressive tones of Chvasta. As all tracks, it has thoughts off on their own creative tangent whilst embracing the narrative offered by voice and melodic intimation; a craft and success unsurprisingly found in the following Entwined too. Even with the riveting throaty grizzle of the bass, a flavour hard to get enough of within Fiber, the song has a warmer tone to its predecessors. It has an almost mystical air, especially through its sonic and melodic design, though again raw and erosive shadows lurk and crowd their magnetic insinuations for great volatility in another lingeringly memorable moment on the album.

Closing up with the heavy seductive oppression of Incendiary, a track rivalling Grave for strength of suffocating emotive intensity, Dead Register transfix and thrill with every twist and turn of Fiber. Though maybe not quite matching those before it for personal tastes, the final track epitomises the qualities and craft of the band whilst exciting the senses and imagination. Again contrasting textures and elements collude through a kaleidoscope of styles and sounds to create something unlike any other proposal heard in a long time and likely to be found again this year outside of the trio. Fiber is dark magic, emotional trespassing, and quite wonderful.

Fiber is released May 6^th via AVR Records digitally and on CD and cassette @ https://deadregister.bandcamp.com/