Album Review: Death Is Death - Death Is Hardest Thing To Do
Reviewed by Jon Wigg
Boom. You’re on your ass, splayed all over the floor, wondering what the hell just hit you. There is a fair chance that it was the new album by Finnish Thrash/Crossover trio, Death is Death. In the punk tradition, there are 14 nasty, short tracks on ‘Death Is Hardest Thing To Do’ ranging from the title track at 1’06” to 3’16” on the most thrashy number ‘Slayer Kind of Death’.
Now you may already be noticing a bit of a theme here - the word death appears in the title of all 14, in the album title and twice in the band name. It’s not subtle, but then again there is nothing at all subtle about this slab of destruction which blasts along at a great pace and with a delightfully snarly attitude.
There are some changes of pace which keep the tracks fresh - ‘Violent-Psycho-Death’ has a fantastic chugging mid-section bookended by some cracking thrash.
There are also some short solos here but the main focus is the riffing, which is devastating throughout. Influences from the 80’s thrash/crossover scene such as Slayer and DRI are evident and this is done with reverence rather than plagiarism. Tracks such as ‘Death Brewery’ and ‘Genetic Death’ really demonstrate this 80’s vibe.
Death is Death is made up of EP on drums, EV on bass and TH on guitar and vocals and all 3 members put in fine performances. The drums really drive the tracks forward while maintaining time right up to the point where a lot of the tracks feel like they are on the edge of losing control. This really provides some great urgency. The bass provides the required depth that can be lacking from thrash without the twin axe attack. The guitar work is fervent and demands attention while the vocals fit in perfectly to this style of music - angry and shouty while keeping enough melody where required.
Overall this album is an excellent collection of nasty little thrash songs baked with punk attitude and covered in the 80’s crossover sound. Hopefully going forward, these tracks will get the live airing they deserve - I imagine those moshpits will be a sight to behold!
