Review: Death Ape Disco “Supervolcano’
Fair warning: if you put this album expecting disco-music played by lethal primates, then you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you put it on expecting some hellaciously high-energy, fist-to-the-solar-plexus rock metal goodness played by five guys from the UK, then you are in luck, because that is exactly what Death Ape Disco delivers.
“Super Volcano” is the self-released first album release from Death Ape Disco and it’s a clear statement of intent. These guys kick the doors down with a sound that is lava-hot (or “face-melting”, as the band calls it), rumbling and growling with influences from bands like Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age, Clutch, and Alice In Chains. This is rock and metal with a dose of southern juiciness, a pocketful of stoner grooves, and a grungy, raw, and rough edge.
The guitar-riffs are big, bad-ass and ferocious, the bass and drums so heavy they can make the earth move for anyone, and vocalist Rob Rainford belts things out with heart and guts, bringing to mind a bit of Cornell, and putting a scream in when needed (and it often is).
With seven tracks, this album has no time to slow down and no time to weaken. It blasts off with “Kingdom of Others”, a roaring track that is all heavy guitar-explosives, bass-boom and drum-fire, setting the tone for the rest of the album. Highlights include the riff-riding, intense and glorious speed-demon “Suffocate”, and the terrifically charged, guitar-sliding “10,000 Years” – slowing down momentarily for some extra menacing vocals.
Two of my personal favorites are “Grinding Down The Sun”, with Death Ape Disco’s twinned guitars coming out swinging full force, and the meaty, bassy tastiness of “Eclipse”, with Rainford’s voice chasing and speeding over the riffs, just slowing down enough to show some range.
Death Ape Disco formed in 2011 and the band is clearly set to set off some pyrotechnics in the future. Sure, their sound is still slightly rough around the edges here and there, but that’s also part of what gives them their energy.
With a clear sense of creative humour (check out their origin story on Facebook), a knack for originality and darkly wild poetry in the band’s lyrics (“Live worlds full of madness, where fractals of insanity evolve/ Like an oil upon the river, Time heals but the scar there will never dissolve”), and a musical power that feels like a beast that is just barely harnessed, this band is definitely one to watch.
Death Ape Disco on Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp
Lineup:
- Rob Rainford: vocals
- Kit Brice: guitar
- James Boulstridge: guitar
- Sam Curtis: bass
- Harry Lehane: drums
Track-list
- Kingdom of Others
- Suffocate
- 10,000 Years
- Grinding Down The Sun
- Eclipse
- Death Ape Disco
- Mars
(Previously posted at Hard Rock Nights.)
This article first appeared and is courtesy
of Maria Haskins’ Rock And Roll