The new DEATH album is called “N.E.W.” and it will hit the streets on April 21 via the Drag City imprint label Tryangle.
In 2009, Drag City Records re-released the band’s United Sound sessions. A reunited DEATH played some reunion gigs that year and put out a rare recordings and demos copilation “The album Spiritual • Mental • Physical” in early 2011. DEATH have also received an independent documentary movie called “A Band Called Death”, directed by Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino and released in 2012.
Death tend to sound like a metal version of The English Beat, a band they originally predated by a handful of years. That rhythm section elevated over rock guitar gives them their innovative twist. The backing vocals on “Playtime” make it sound like a saxophone-less version of the Beat’s “Tears of a Clown” cover or a less verbose take on their “Twist & Crawl”. Following in that order, “Change” is Death’s own version of “Save It for Later”, blanketing a catchy chorus with scale-climbing guitar lines and chipper bass.
Death never tried to make complicated music. They were busy being in the minority of the minority, laying down the groundwork for punk as African Americans in a time when Motown ruled their city. They created the type of gritty, punchy, positive proto-punk that gets you heated for all the right reasons, and it’s as fitting today as it was in the 1970s. / Consequence Of Sound magazine
