Death Index - Death Index (Deathwish Inc.) 2016
9
Harking back sonically to the days of The Birthday Party, Death Index are a cacophonous art-noise band who have created music that is a hybrid bridge of synth heavy, fuzzed up art-punk and avant-garde rock. It is difficult to pigeonhole, has a heavy 80’s influence – stealing notes and tricks from the industrial sound of Gary Numan and The Cure’s dark corners, and also sounding somewhat like a Stooges band dipped in menace. As an album, it has some remarkable turns and shades. Captivating and intriguing, it builds upon heavy – if sonically muted – drums, hidden under the mix, staccato machine gun guitars and ten tons of bass. Pretty ironclad in its delivery, it’s a stunning little album which I did not expect to dig as much as I did. For fans of Nick Cave’s earliest work and The Cure’s darkest moments… It’s a band who demands further attention.