The Sweet Release Of Death - The Sweet Release Of Death

Label: Subroutine

Year: 2016

As the shadows grow longer, pumpkin spice gives way to peppermint, and the night air crackles with a cold electricity, our collective thoughts turn to that end of year wank-off, the "Best Of" lists. Oh, what a festive time!

And I'm going to tell you, I resisted pulling a list together on the moral grounds that there is no way a sane person could give half a shit about what I was personally listening to that calendar year. I really did. But for reasons I can't altogether remember (paint fumes), a couple years back I did one for the blog, and then again last year, and I'll be damned but they were some of the highest viewed entries. Fuck me, right? I guess people really do sorta, kinda care. A tad?

So it's around this time of year I go back and strain my addled brain jellies to recount what in the sam hill I actually WAS listening to this past year, that was actually released this past year.Which is hard! Then I return to those releases and listen again for further scrutiny and analysis, to see which ones are scientifically measuring as "Best Of" material. It's super exclusive, VIP shit. 

The Sweet Release Of Death is a band from Rotterdam I'd certainly never heard of until a month or so ago when this record showed up, and damn if didn't impress. They call themselves "noise pop", which I'll buy. That doesn't fully illuminate the relatively wide gamut of post punk, goth, death rock, shoegaze, and medicinal grade weirdness that combines together to concoct said "noise pop", and I think it short changes the band because they are far more interesting than just "noise pop". Lots of layers, some ephemeral, some sharply pointed, overlapping and peeling away to make otherworldly envelopes of sound.

Recommended, but juuuuuuust shy of "Best Of" stuff. 

Next year...let's see how they rebound next year. 

DL