Deadbird
The Head and the Heart
Earache / Code: Breaker
Quick impression: Caw! caw! Bang! Fuck, I'm dead
Deadbird sure are aptly named. They’re about as fast as one—a dead bird, that is. (I will not compare Deadbird to Neurosis. I will not compare Deadbird to Neurosis.) Check out the distortion on those guitars—even their amps are dying for your sins. (I mean, look at this way: you don’t pick on bands for honoring Sabbath or Napalm, do you? It’s a given that bands are gonna steal from the greats. It should be flattering that so many of them—month in and month out—release albums that, um, honor the greatness of Neurosis.)
To be fair, Deadbird can speed up when they want. And if their art-metal trawl through the heart of darkness that is our mini-mall world sounds derivative, metal musicians don’t get enough credit for the bleak imaginary worlds they conjure. The best are at least on the same level as good genre fiction, morphing into traditional doom and back again with ease. And about halfway through this album, something funny happens: Deadbird turn on the juice and become an honest-to-god metal band. (See, that wasn’t so hard. They are growing on you! It’s just lazy to always trot out the names of the same bands over and over again. Musicians and fans get sick of that shit. Of course, you did call them derivative. Who the fuck isn’t derivative? Maybe talk about their lyrics? Um, okay: “The head keeps the balance of life in this struggle/ The flesh holds together the tide of immortality…” Okay, forget the lyrics. The cover is kind of interesting. You see, there are these two dead birds…)
Just when you start to expect more soft-loud-soft indie bullshit, Deadbird thrash thru the lens of doom metal majesty. And kick some ass in the process. (Was that so hard? These dudes aren’t Pelican. Jesus… Pelican. There is absolutely nothing scary about a pelican. Unless you’re a fish.) Their take on Albini’s dry-as-dust guitar sound is a blare worth hearing. And I’ll bet they’re killer live. (Amen. You did it. But just barely. Now can we listen to the new Hate Eternal album again?)
—Scott Seward
