Dead Characters - Ashen

In a world dominated by vocal-centric music, it must be difficult to be an instrumental artist. Vocals create an easy and immediate touchstone for audiences, a doorway of human presence that they can step through. It is infinitely harder to connect with the general population via instrumentation, to touch their minds and hearts in the same way and with the same depth. A daunting task, but not an impossible one, as Colorado’s Dead Characters prove with their debut EP Ashen.

The sound of Ashen is much like the album cover: dark, crashing, and in constant motion. The drums pile hit upon hit upon hit, practically beating the toms to a pulp with powerful fills and warlike grooves. The bass guitar drones like an oncoming thunderstorm, thumping against the bass drum beats with a tone so growling and gritty it shakes my speakers. Above it all rides the guitar, deftly switching between tremolo-picked solos and chugging chords. The band lets the riffs and running basslines lead their sound—all the emotion is embedded in the instruments, and the melodies portray the meanings without the encumbrance of vocals or lyrics.

While their performances are superb, the real strength of Dead Characters’ music lies in their composition. The band employs vicious up-and-down dynamics in their songs, digging quiet and spacious valleys between mountains of distortion and ringing cymbals. Tracks like “With and Without” and “Landing” slip between big booming riffs and gentle melodic moments, letting the song steer from beauty to brutality. Similarly, vastly different guitar tones are employed against each other to create tension, placing washes of echo and reverb against grinding fuzz in “Palo Duro,” or even simultaneously imposing a twangy clean onto massive distortion in “There Were Flashes.” Each of the five songs on Ashen uses dynamics in volume and in tone to create vivid worlds for us to explore. 

It’s no small feat to connect with listeners through music; to do so without the tried-and-true tool of singing is an even larger feat, yet Dead Characters seem to be masters at it. Each of the songs on Ashen tells its own story in the language of thrashing strings and crashing drums, throwing the encumbrance of vocals to the side and letting their riffs do the talking. And believe me, those riffs have something to say, so you better listen up.

My Top Track: “Harriet”

You can find more from Dead Characters, including upcoming shows and news, on Facebook. Then head over to their Bandcamp page and pick up your own copy of Ashen.

Intercourse - Everything is Pornography When You've Got an Imagination

Connecticut is a state oozing with heavy bands, yet few can truly bring the noise like Intercourse. Their approach to music is fearless and furious; seeing them live is like standing in the way of a careening freight train. They make music for the outsiders, broken loners and writhing weirdos, drawing on the darkness of the corners ignored by the masses. Intercourse embraces this darkness, and with their latest release Everything is Pornography When You’ve Got an Imagination, they lob it back at the general population like a hand grenade. 

Compositionally, Everything is Pornography is like a Jackson Pollock painting, simultaneously a technical masterpiece and a beautiful mess. The guitars thrash through quick, abrasive chord progressions and heady palm mutes, punctuated by vicious feedback and screaming dissonant notes. The bass rages through distortion and bizarre effects. Hectic blast beats and shattering cymbals drive the band into brutal breakdowns that punch like fists at the ear drums. Above this maelstrom ride the vocals of a rambling madman, screamed at fever pitch and full volume. 

The beauty of Intercourse’s music is that is simultaneously intentional and improvised—four talented and passionate musicians who have no qualms about fucking shit up. Everything is Pornography is loaded with tempo and time signature changes: “Piles” repeatedly cycles through 4/4/, 6/4, and 7/4 so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to predict, while “Beyond Human” presses thrashing fast sections against a vehement, soulless breakdown that slows with each repetition. But against these clear and deliberate technical decisions, Intercourse smashes waves of feedback and noise throughout, creating an audio hellscape of distortion and dissonance.

These players might be pros at their instruments, but noise is their specialty; chaos is in their blood, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the vocals. Each vocal piece feels almost separate from the instrumentation, like a drunken stranger stumbled into the recording studio and began screaming about being abducted by aliens. Head-spinning yells and vitriolic rants roil like a hurricane above the stormy seas of the instruments, forcing a framework of human suffering and absurdity over the layers of feedback. If the earsplitting guitars are there to disorient you, it’s the roaring vocals that kick you in the gut and steal your wallet. 

This intrinsic uproar is just as apparent in the lyrics, which spin tales of absolute pandemonium. “Cuckold the Family Ghost” describes a botched suicide resulting in a hellish haunting, while “Cum Kind of Monster” blurs the line between macho hero worship and masturbatory addiction. The undertone to almost every song is one of bizarre and irreverent humor, yet it is not all-consuming: lines like “Look me in the eyes, vote against my life. They want to build a wall? There's already a fucking wall” from “The Kids are Alt-Right” wield this bombastic anger against relevant social issues such as racism and toxic masculinity. 

Intercourse’s noisy brand of hardcore on Everything is Pornography When You’ve Got an Imagination hits like a stampede of blackout-drunk elephants. If they throw parties in hell, this is the record they put on the jukebox. Its noisy riffs, thundering beats, and spine-chilling shouts create a raucous mix that is both frightening and frighteningly good. Intercourse redefines the word “heavy” with Everything is Pornography, and I can’t wait to see where they take it next. 

My Top Track: “Beyond Human” 

You can find more from Intercourse, including news and show updates, on Facebook. Then head over to their Bandcamp page and grab your own copy of Everything is Pornography When You’ve Got an Imagination.