Death Drive is, of course, an album of songs, in the conventional and broad sense of the meaning, but what sets it apart from most other long players is its density and depth. It doesn’t so much make its presence felt through the usual adherence to volume or velocity; instead, Revvnant employs the concept of, well, for want of a better word…more! It is more intense, more industrial, more visceral, more profound, darker, and more deliciously edgy than most music around today.
It would be easy to make music that lived up to such descriptions by just turning all the pedals up to eleven, overdriving and distorting sounds and signals, blurring the creativity, and bowling the listener over with noise. And whilst “Horror” is certainly squalling and apocalyptic, claustrophobic and intense, there are also songs such as “Rise” which seem to embrace that same anthemic gothic-pop as Depeche Mode did when they turned to the dark side.
And then there is “Damascus,” a beautiful slice of ornate chamber-pop that feels like Scott Walker taking a walk in the shadowlands and perfectly reveals the deft designs of these songs, which are often felt but here brilliantly exposed in all their delicate glory.
But as stark and often starkly beautiful as the music is, like the output of many music makers today, it is an album loaded with thoughts and warning shots. From the rise of authoritarianism, fascism, and the fundamentalism of the Christian right, to climate change, and even to more personal inner conflicts, it is an album not only full of forward-thinking music but also whose messages chime perfectly with these dark times.
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