Full Album Stream: Death Engine – “Place Noire”

In 2015 Death Engine released Mud, undoubtedly one of the best records that year and a high-water mark in noiserock that no one would feel confident trying to top.

But while I’ve only sat with Place Noire for a couple days, goddamn it feels like they may have done it.

Over the course of six tracks the band refines their caterwauling attacks and hypnotic feedback but have also shaped each song to give them stronger, more dynamic spines. Massive, bitter melodies expand and contract under vocals that shift between disgust, desperation and madness. It makes for a mesmerizing but unpredictable set of bruising hymns, all driven by a bass tone that eats into your marrow.

So is Place Noire the best record Death Engine has put out? I still can’t say for sure, but it’s clearly one of the best of 2018. Feel free to go ahead and confirm that below.

Throatruiner and Apocaplexy Records are releasing this in Europe tomorrow, and it’s distributed by Deathwish Inc. for everyone stateside.

And for all you lucky bastards across the pond, they’ll be hitting multiple countries on a tour later this month.