“I have never heard of The Death Set. Who the hell are they? Hmm…better take a look at their website. OK, they’re originally from Sydney but now based in Baltimore. Hey, that’s where ‘Homicide: Life on the Street? was set. Damn, I loved that show.
What? Oh, yes, The Death Set. Well, enough with the website, let’s listen to their album [called Worldwide which is out 11/4, apparently].
Fuck me.”
18 tracks, most of them around a minute-and-a-half long begin their electro-punk assault. The hapless critic lies helpless. It’s a hyperactive mass of punky, shouty craziness.
However, far from being an unpleasant violation, this is actually really good fun. They’re shouty and loud, but still melodic enough to get pissed and spaz out on the dancefloor to. Track 5 is in fact called ‘Spaz’ and it comes after one of the album highlights ‘Intermission’.
Imagine brazilian hipsters CSS hoovering a big line of cocaine before getting gang-raped by Fugazi and Tubeway Army. That’s what The Death Set sound like.
It’s not particularly cerebral, neither should you lose too much sleep wondering whether you care about the sentiments of pseudo-political numbers ‘Peak Oil’ or ‘Around the World’. This is just about making great music that kicks-ass and is actually really good fun to listen to. In the process they have managed to fuse punk and electro without ever really risking being described electroclash.
This album is unlikely to make it on to many top 10 lists at the end of the year (as most editors usually prefer things more sedate), which is a shame. This is a more-than-decent debut, which is great to both listen to and get drunk to. What more can you ask than that.