Death: N.E.W.

Death: N.E.W.

2015

Tryangle Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Relief  2. Look At Your Life  3. Story Of The World  4. The Times  5. Playtime  6. At The Station  7. Who Am I?  8. You Are What You Think  9. Resurrection  10. Change


This was unexpected...Went to the record store a few months back and right there in the new release pile was a spanking new album by Death, a band who last recorded new material somewhere around 1980...Not to mention, the death of a key member (when you're a power trio, every member is key), guitarist and songwriter David Hackney...Honestly, when I picked this up, I didn't know what I was getting into...Could it possibly be as great as anything from "...For All the World to See"? Or was it going to be some stand-in crapola?

Luckily, it's mostly the former...The band pretty much sounds the same as ever...Maybe the vocals are mixed a little louder than before...The slower sections aren't as murky....But overall, this is the exact type of hard-charging,  deeply spiritual, Motor City rock n' roll that comes to mind when you think of Death...Heck, the late great David Hackney even contributes a couple of songs...And best of all, there are a couple of tracks that are as great as the very best Death songs...I repeat, there are a couple of tracks that are as great as the very best Death songs, which is a godsend in this post-apocalyptic era where real rock is so rare that I've spent the majority of 2015 driving around in a Ford Falcon XB GT, battling mo-hawked biker mutants for the last precious drops of it...

But yea, "Relief" is right up there with "Keep On Knocking," "Politicians In My Eyes" or "Freakin' Out"...Another flat out, ridiculously catchy, supremely rocking classic to add the pile...It's aptly named too, cos it really was a relief when I put on the new Death album and was first greeted with this...I honestly didn't know what to expect...I was hoping there would be no techno beats or Iggy Azalea anywhere on the album, but I wasn't sure..When I heard "Relief" I knew I was safe...And "Who Am I?" is right up there with it...Just a fine fine piece of yearning pop-rock...It's lyrically spare and repetitive but it works as a mantra and the guitars, bass and drums are always changing things up slightly to keep it interesting...It's one of those songs that passed me by the first listen but its hooks sunk deeper and deeper into me everytime I listened to it...Now at least once an hour  "Who am I? Where am I? And how did I get he-e-e-e-rrrree..." pops into my head...The triumphant album closer "Change" is also a highlight...

Really, the only out-an-out terrible song on here is "Playtime" which sounds like the soundtrack to a kid's show...I know the lyrics directly tell me not to take it too seriously, but why subject myself to this when "Relief" is just as fun and has the added bonus of being a good song that doesn't make you want to claw your ears out...I'm also not huge on "Resurrection" which is one of those "WE'RE BA-AACCK" songs that are never any good...Again, a song like "Relief" is the type of song that truly let's people know you're back,m by just quietly kicking some serious ass...

I actually strongly disliked "At The Station" the first couple of times I heard it, but now it's grown on me immensely...I still think the chorus is ungainly and weak, but the "Through the hills, tunnels and valleys, the mountains...The SEEAAAS!" part is so grand and awesome that I can't help but love it...People are afraid to get this unabashedly powerful these days, but there's no denying there's something inherently satisfying in just going for it, subtlety be damned...Everybody's either too damn cool to feel it these days or so busy in trying to convince you that they're feeling it, that when you hear the real thing it can be kind of shocking...But you can tell Bobby was really feeling this shit when he sang it...Like he just made a damn fist and tells the folks how he's traveled through jungles, oceans and deserts just to get here...If you're some smirking ass-hat who constantly worries about whether shit is corny or not you'll probably think it's silly, but anyone with a soul will feel a stirring in their hearts when that fried guitar riff arrives on the other side of the ordeal and Bobby joyously shouts, "WE'VE ARRIIIIVED!!!!" 

The rest of the album...Solidly good...So here's the final tally...3 all-time greats, 2 stinkers, 1 stinker/all-time-great hybrid and 4 super-solid chunks of rock...Not bad...A week doesn't goes by when I don't pop this in my discman for that long train-ride to work...

 That's the best I can ask for...

Here's "Relief" by Death....