Dead - We Won't Let You Sleep album review

Antipodean noise-rock that’s determined to start a buzz

Cover art for Dead - We Won't Let You Sleep album

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This is the third LP in a four-LP series titled Trilogy and the Australian noise-rock duo responsible operates, mostly, as a trio. Confused yet? Thankfully, sonically, We Won’t Let You Sleep is far less difficult to decipher; this is a record with ‘Melvins’ stamped widely across it – which is no bad thing if your enthusiasm for the Seattle band only just stops short of getting a King Buzzo tattoo somewhere below the waistline. Imitation and influence are separate things, too, andSOFTWAREmark” gingersoftwareuiphraseguid=“73aee171-4d2b-46c0-9c47-97960497a10d” id=“86b0c141-8d52-41da-8f3d-7b6873e3e9eb”> …Sleep sticks mostly to the latter. Here the duo (and occasional bassist Kevin Rutmanis) have crafted a boulder-dislodging noise-rock onslaught that might almost be considered accessible. Brief opener Frankly is a lumbering, Sleep-esque bass/drum jam that pre-empts the landslide of gloriously scuzzy, Big Business-meets-Harvey Milk riffs throughout Fingers As Arrows. But swamped in broken guitars and vocals that sound like an angry Lee Dorrian stuck down a well, it’s the relentless Picking Teeth that constitutes the finest three minutes of the entire record.