![]() ![]() The 75-page booklet accompanying the deluxe format of Deathconsciousness details the dark and forgotten history of the Antiochean cult. Now, longtime HANL collaborator The Flenser will reissue Deathconsciousness on the long-requested CD format, with a deluxe packaging option, including the lengthy accompanying zine and housed in a heavy box. Seamlessly blending shoegaze, post punk, new wave, industrial and noise with unparalleled depth and weight, the album was originally released by Enemies List Home Recordings founded by HANL members Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga. Six years after its release the band followed up with 2014’s stunner The Unnatural World, and by then Deathconsciousness had become a force of influence and fanatic obsession. (Pitchfork may earn a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.In 2008, Have A Nice Life released their now cult classic Deathconsciousness album to a whimper and critical non-interest. I guess I thought I’d know what I’m doing by now, but I know nothing.” Where Matt Berninger might be ruefully fondling his argyle sweaters, Have a Nice Life eyes revolution: “I am mortgaged to an irrational thought: that we are always on top, and nothing will ever go wrong.” After two records about death, Macuga and Barrett have landed on something truly terrifying: finding oneself, inexplicably, still alive. But the sharpest commentary on the nihilism of total independence comes from “Lords of Tresserhorn”: “I can stay up late whenever I want,” Barrett sings, “but other than that, it’s nothing like I thought. “I opted out by never really opting in,” they sing on the title track, finding simultaneous freedom and sadness in the idea. Sea of Worry addresses the anxieties of adulthood with vengeful indignation. “Destinos,” with a lengthy sample of a sermon about the evils of Satan and Hell, is more similar to its original version as a closer, it makes a disappointingly safe choice for a dramatic exit.Īs Have a Nice Life learn to embrace professional studio recordings and bigger audiences, perhaps the band’s most defining quality will prove to be its lyrics, a potent expression of what one might call dad rage. But the song benefits from the crisper recording, which highlights impressive chord changes and structural twists that were previously buried. The new version represents what online fans feared for the band, with crunchy, overdriven guitar and full-throated yelps that are more indebted to Superchunk than Bauhaus. “Trespassers W,” originally a brooding post-punk love song with muffled vocals and a bassline ripped from “ Transmission,” justifies its inclusion with a full-band remake. Two of the album’s seven tracks are re-recordings of demos already familiar to diehards, padding a relatively short record with old material. “Lords of Tresserhorn” plays with the same elements-twinkling synths, thrumming bass, clipped vocals-but simmers them slowly, not so much building to a chorus as painting layers of scenery.īut these ambitious experiments are paired with concessions to an active fanbase that is terrified of change. With a propulsive bassline that gives way to shimmering guitars, “Science Beat” sounds like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” as helmed by Pere Ubu’s David Thomas, Barrett’s atonal sing-speaking cutting through the blinding brightness. ![]() It’s nearly grating enough to make a new listener pull the plug altogether, which would be a shame- Sea of Worry finds the band honing in on the metallic sheen of goth rock, a subgenre consistently in the mix on previous records but never given its due. The momentum of the triumphant, shout-along choruses on “Sea of Worry” is flatlined by “Dracula Bells,” a track rendered exhaustingly slow by awkward rhythmic shifts, multiple melodic tangents, and a painful dash of free jazz. On Sea of Worry, these shifts are more abrupt the pace of the record suffers as a result. ![]() Have a Nice Life’s early work had a tendency to shape-shift, presenting as garage rock on one track only to unravel into ambient noise on the next. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |