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....

Death: ...For All the World to See/ Death III

Death :...For All the World to See

2009

Drag City Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Keep on Knocking  2. Rock-N-Roll Victim  3. Let the World Turn  4. You're a Prisoner  5. Freakin Out  6. Where Do We Go from Here???  7. Politicians in My Eyes

 
Early recordings, dating back to 1975, from Florida Death-Metal legends Death...Many of these sessions predating the band's 1987 debut "Scream Bloody Gore"...



 Huh? Wrong band? Alright, let me start over...

 I had read the reviews and was very interested in checking out "...For All the World to See," by some unknown Detroit band from the early 70's called  Death, but I never really got around to it...One day I was scrolling through Netflix and ran across the 2012 documentary, "A Band Called Death."




 I loved the documentary and recommend it to anybody. As compelling as I found Found the human interest story, ultimately it was the damn music that blew me away...I could not process what I was hearing! There was this song called "Freakin Out" that sounded like 80's hardcore...But it was written in 1974 and recorded in 1975?, well before the Ramones or anybody had released a record...So I immediately bought a vinyl copy at Eastside Records, tossed it on my turntable that night and tossed back a few colds...

Immediately, I was saddened and dismayed that I hadn't been rocking out to "Keep On Knockin" my entire life...I was robbed of 30-something precious years where I could have been blasting that song every Friday night! Curse you record companies of the 1970's with your Peter Framptons and your Debbie Boones!! Why didn't anybody sign Death?!?! Why did Clive-freakin'-Davis turn them down because of their name?!?! Curse you!!!!

 Oh well, better late than never I guess...If there' one good thing about the internet, it's endless free porn...If there's two good things about it, it's that all kinds of old, forgotten gems are being dug up and polished in beautiful vinyl packages for me to buy(I guess that somewhat offsets the internet's accomplishment of pretty much destroying new music...). Anyway, "Keep On Knockin" is a thing of pure beauty...The perfect mix of windmill-worthy arena rock guitar heroics and punk ferocity...And check out that mighty chorus for "Politicians in My Eyes"...You must pump your fist in the air! You must hold your can of beer on high! Worship almighty Death! Worship them!!! 

  Really, every song is here is great...Even if it starts out wimpy and diffuse ("Let the World Turn") it eventually gets around to rocking like crazy...And I think it's safe to say that the chorus of "You're a Prisoner" is the first hardcore break-down...I guess if I had to pick a weak spot, it'd be "Rock-N-Roll Victim," which never develops a memorable melody, but even so, I love that speedy riff and lightning quick hi-hat hits...

Fuck it, it's all good...If you have any interest whatsoever in proto-punk bands like the MC5 or Stooges, you've got to check this out...Don't deprive yourself of this...Stick it to Clive-freakin'-Davis...

 Listen to "Keep On Knockin"...You will believe...

Death: III

2014

Drag City Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Introduction by David  2. North Street  3. Open Road  4. We Are Only People  5. Restlessness  6. Free  7. Yes He's Coming  8. First Snowfall in Detroit  9. We're Gonna Make It


There was another Death album that came in-between "...For All the World to See" and "III" called "Spiritual • Mental • Physical" that I still haven't picked up, despite the amazing cover...

But the cheapest copy I've been able to find runs about $19.00 and there's just no way I'm paying that much...But if I ever find something in the $10-$15 range, I'll be sure to snag it and write a post on it then...

"Death III" (and from what I've heard  of "Spiritual • Mental • Physical") is a much different release than "...For All the World to See," in that it's a bunch of loose demos and jams from various time frames, so don't go in expecting the tight, concise punch of that groundbreaking album..."III" is more rewarding in a "big picture" way...

"...For All the World to See" presented us with a band out of time, on that had somehow seen the glories of raw, primal punk rock and reported it back to the early-mid 70's via a filler-free 7-song masterpiece recorded in  a monumental session in a real-deal recording studio...It was a single magic moment caught on tape...The recording dates for "III" take place in random locales over three decades...

From the 70's we get a couple of lo-fi recordings...One is a brief guitar instrumental intro from David, and the other ("Free") is a drumless sketch where David's flanged guitar threatens to swallow the vocals entirely..."We Are Only People" starts out a lot like "Let the World Turn"...Same despondent guitar figure accompanying a desolate vocal, but whereas "Let the World Turn" eventually erupted into molten rock, this one gives way to a funky strut, making it an interesting companion piece...However, my favorite of the 70's sessions turns out to be the unassuming guitar instrumental "First Snowfall in Detroit" that effectively conveys the mood of a long-faded Polaroid of a cold Detroit street corner in the 70's...

The Hackney brother's session from 1980 is where the album's best moments originate...Yea, "Open Road" ain't that great, sounding like Hendrix playing a repetitive waltz with a billion false stops, but the other two tracks ("Restlessness" and "North Street") stand up to the band's best work...Particularly "North Street"'s gritty street lyrics and breakneck tumble...

And to round things off, a couple of David Hackney's final recordings made in 1992..."Yes He's Coming" is a bizarre gospel rock track, but "We're Gonna Make It" is the highpoint here...So optimistic, with charming touches like that synth-y sitar line and triumphant horns...As the film makes clear, David was always the one who always believed in Death and was confident that one day people were gonna come around, and as it turns out,  he was right...We can take comfort that if he didn't necessarily live to see the band's belated success, you can hear it in this song that he already knew it was going to happen...It was a foregone conclusion to him...His confidence was well-founded, because let's face it, Death ruled...A great way to top off their discography (assuming the claims that this is the final release of archival Death recordings is true)...

Again, I wouldn't start with "III"...Definitely check out "..For All the World to See" first...That was their indisputably their moment....But for the archive-fiends and those who want a closer look behind the curtain, it's a good listen...

Here's "North Street" by Death...Enjoy...