S/T

Description

Second Death debut with a 9 track MLP. Following in the footsteps of London bands No and Permission who the band share half of its members with additions from local bands Subdued and Last Affront. Pulling musical threads similar to their previous bands, their distinct brand of dissonant hardcore is dense and claustrophobic, as if there are too many notes crammed into too small a space, riffs coming out at odd, uncomfortable angles like the corners of a hand in a desk in a cramped London studio. Second Death’s manic rhythms are punctuated by unexpected accents that disrupt any slide into safety, comfort or convention, and whilst moments in ‘Sycophant’ or ‘Caving’ threaten to descend into a mosh, there’s invariably some oddly timed accent that derails the choreography like a wild tweaker wandering into the pit. Ben from Last Affront handles the vocals, and their delivery and lyrics reflect the tortured isolationist feel of the music: short, clipped lines of a nerve rubbed raw, torn between fight and flight, sparks of angst flying in the direction of everyone and no one in particular. Life is not easy, and neither is Second Death’s music, but there is a poetry in how these nine tracks intermittently drive towards a resolution that never comes, a resonant echo of cycles of anxiety and torment that perpetuate and relentlessly intensify.