Album Review: Dead - You'll Never Know Pleasure...
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
With the Christmas season almost upon us and the prospect of the insufferable All I Want for Christmas is You being everywhere you turn, it’s left to your humble scribe to suggest some alternatives.
Arriving in the inbox from elves at the Razor’s Edge grotto this week is the 25th Anniversary Release of German Death Metal-cum-Pornogrind merchants, Dead’s You’ll Never Know Pleasure – Until You’ve Tasted Pain. Although originally released in 1995 – so not technically precisely quarter of a century ago – the good folk at XENOKORP Records can be excused for being slightly over time, what with all that’s been afoot recently.
In keeping with the title of the record, there are a few samples from the Hellraiser mythology in the introductions to Receive My Golden Shower and the title track itself, with the latter eluding malice and demonic-sounding vocals.
Generally speaking, the music on You’ll Never Know Pleasure… is surprisingly infectious, with catchy rhythms and some choppy riffs on the likes of Penicide, XXL Cunt, Body Fluids are My Favourite Fetish and Thrusted to the Limit of All Delight.
That’s not to say the record isn’t without it moments of sheer heaviness. Both Slaves to Abysmal Perversity and Delicious Taste of Vaginal Excrements trade the hooks for slow, plodding weight and drums that rumble as though from the bowels of the Earth.
Higher Power and Die When You Die are covers of GG Allin songs – which tells you everything you need to know about the artistic vision of the album. Though, as it comes to a close it serves up a few surprise packages in the form of the sleazy early-70s New York punk of Hey Baby, Why Don’t You Love Me? and the unexpectedly straight-forward death metal of Skin Deep Between Her Thighs.
If you do decide to spin this one while you’re tucking into your turkey you might want to warn Granny that the six-part suite that is Recognize: Spread Your Legs, Whore is an eleven-minute industrial loop of sadomasochistic torture – so should probably be left to accompany the cheese-board.
