Kuwait Music Exclusive by Ahmad Al-Hamily
With a self-titled album called Deathfix, many might mistake this band as a Death Metal outfit bent on destruction; however, this is not the case because from the beginning of this seven-track album till its end, all you will hear is a yearning to classic rock as well as alternative and dare I say post-punk?
I first came across Deathfix on Facebook through Brendan Canty, known as the drummer of DC Punk outfits Rites of Spring, Happy Go Licky, and mostly prominently Fugazi. When I noticed the name I was pretty intrigued “what could this one sound like?” Knowing that Mr. Canty had switched from being behind the drums kit to guitar, I had to check the song that was posted on their official page and after listening to “Low Lying Dreams,” I was pretty impressed!
The Deathfix self-titled offers seven songs with each geared towards a specific sound and idea. Of course, I won’t go too deep into each song’s musical and lyrical detail because it will take forever to analyze and I’m just lazy :3.
1- Better Than Bad.
Nothing phenomenally wowing about this tune. I don’t know why, but being a person interested in lyrics first and foremost, I find it very hard to concentrate and get to know what this song is about, or rather what the heck is going on. Maybe its the way the singer delivered his lines in the verses as opposed to the music being played. The chorus is fine and it gives you more of what “Better Than Bad” was aiming at. All and all, this is just an intro to what’s coming next.
2- Low Lying Dreams.
Well, this is THE song that will grab your attention. I find myself playing this over and over and over. Why you ask? Well, the lyrics are just PERFECT! In my humble opinion, this song talks about the lack of inspiration and the urge to create and express. At the current moment, I feel frustrated with many things and Low Lying Dreams just hits the spot. As for the music, no it’s not the most complex composition out there; however, its very addictive and I find myself in a dream-like existence. I’ll bet that you people will be singing along to this and lets face it, everybody wants to sing lines like “I’m out of my mind … It’s taking me over!”
3- Hospital
Why do I feel nostalgic and remember the ER series while listening to this one? … Oh yeah the title maybe?! Besides that, this one is surely about a person who’s fed up with medication and wants to die. It basically puts you in the shoes of a patient who is observing things around him/her, but what made me think that he/she wants to “kick the bucket” were the lines in the verse “The sound of silence interrupts me and for a second I see the whole world as dead or possibly only sick.” and the chorus “Get up … Get up … Give us your bed … There is something wrong inside this hospital.” Of course there are some other verse and chorus lines that gives you the same feeling but I’ll leave it to you guys to decide. Musically, I really like it. Not great but this song is very good.
4- Dali’s House
I don’t know how to explain this song really. I mean the lyrics are not … I just can’t describe them really. The guy wants to party at celebrities and well-known individuals’ houses so bad sometimes he jumps into criticizing God knows what, I’m really confused with this one. As for the music … Funky … pretty funky. Oh what the heck it’s not that bad – it could be played at parties all the time.
5- Playboy
Should I like this one or should I not? first of all, the song is at five odd minutes and it kind of loses me and maybe its just me not comprehending the words. I did listen to the album at work so woe one me, but the lines are blurry and the recycling of words from others songs, namely Low Lying Dreams, made this one so and so for me. As for the music, it pretty much reminds me of the Who for some odd reason especially in the bridge and outro parts.
6- Mind Control
Now that’s more like it. Basically the lyrics, from what I understood, talks about different types of mind control, whether it was within the context of music, love, religion, The music starts kind of typical but then goes ambient and dreamy near the last portion of the song. This is my second favorite track of the album.
7-Transmission
The nearly nine-minute song is lyrical ambiguous to me and jumps from one topic to another; however, what wins this one for me is the music. Rather than just sticking to one thing, this song has it all. From the upbeat part which dies down at around the 3:00 minute mark, through the mid-section which is pretty much Who and No-wave inspired, till the explosive drum fill right before last three minutes of the song, which also includes an amalgamation of saxophone, hectic drums, piano and, guitar solo, “Transmission” truly lives up to its name.
The self-titled release of Deathfix is not going to sell million of copies around the globe, but gives the band more roof to create and outdo themselves. I, for one, could see more good songs being produced by this DC outfit and I’m looking forward to it.
Then, as always I’ll leave you with a sample. Here is the music video for Better Than Bad and a live performance of Low Lying Dreams … Enjoy!
The post [Digging the Underground] Deathfix (self-titled) appeared first on Kuwait Music.