Some thirty-five years after it was recorded, proto-punk sibling trio Death finally saw their 1974 masterpiece ‘…For The Whole World To See’ released on Drag City in 2009. It was a bittersweet moment, too late for one brother, David Hackney, who died at a young age from lung cancer in 1982, but ultimately it was a vindication of what they always knew – these songs could stand the test of time. And how.
Nobody saw a new album coming, however, least of all me, so it is fascinating to note just how they have changed since that (initially ignored) thunderous debut.
It seems that they haven’t been content to rest on their laurels, clearly having taken in all manner of musical offerings from the past decade or so as well as those from a more vintage era. Nowhere is their endorsement of modern contemporaries more evident than on the bristly ‘Look At Your Life’, channeling the stop-start consumerism of System Of A Down to create an edgy, confrontational hornet’s nest and signalling a boorish intent to crush the doubts of any more cynical onlookers.
‘N.E.W.‘ is not a perfect album by any stretch of the imagination, but it is certainly an impressive one, and there are moments, such as the monumental ‘Who Am I?’, where the fire that started some 40 odd years ago is burning brighter than ever. The party dance of ‘Playtime’ too, is an all too brief example of their adaptability, and an electrifying one to boot.
The most noticable sidestep here is the stripping down of their punkish roots, deliberating more bullishly towards an altogether more ‘rock’ sound on the likes of ‘Relief’, which falls somewhere between Black Sabbath, Lenny Kravitz and Kiss, or the pumped up speed of ‘The Times’, which recalls Anthrax in their heyday.
‘This feels like a resurrection’, surmise the two surviving Hackney brothers towards the end of this long player. I’m not sure I’d go quite THAT far, but it’s definitely a party you’d want to remember, that’s for sure.
[Rating:3.5]
