The Death of Money – Error After Era
The Death of Money – Error After Era
Suntreader Records
Release Date: 08/11/24
Running Time: 42:53
Review by Dark Juan
Score: 10/10
Dark Juan for some reason feels like a smouldering sex god today. I have no idea why, because yesterday was spent doing non-music stuff and shopping and I sat and did precisely fuck all last night apart from tart about on my phone. But today finds your favourite ersatz Metal hack swanning about the place like he’s god’s gift to all sexualities and brimming with self-confidence and general bonhomie.
It won’t last. That we are assured of. It never does.
In other news, my friends at The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara sent me a surprise t-shirt for which I am very grateful indeed, and the fine folk (thanks, Matt!) at Cherry Red Records gave me a copy of Rosalie Cunningham’s latest album, also as a gift. Combine this with the gentleman who is John 3:16’s Philippe Gerber, who sent me essentially everything he has ever released, which is a lot, also as a very generous gift, and you will see that Dark Juan has much to be grateful for this morning and this probably explains why I am in a rare good mood at the moment. Normally I am found darkly frowning at everything and wanting to kill it, whether or not it would be legal or even possible to.
Therefore, it is in this new-found and most definitely temporary sense of brotherhood and love for my fellow shaved apes that I reverently remove the Platter of Splatter™ from the shadowed recess in which it dwells and have placed an offering upon the sacred spinning altar of musical madness. Today, it is Cardiff/ Mancunian trio The Death of Money and their twentieth anniversary release, “Error After Era”.
Holy SHIT!
Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if Bauhaus and Der Bible cranked the distortion up on their music and roared instead of crooned? If their music had been aggressive rather than seductive? That’s what The Death of Money sound like. Huge, attacking wedges of sonic warfare underpinned with sub-rosa bass destabilising tectonic plates. An all encompassing, slowly advancing wall of noise engulfing everything you see before you in some kind of horrible slow motion, yet within the total aural destruction of everything before you, there’s flashes of beauty and seductive tones that beguile you and keep you watching and listening while the world crumbles before you, in real time. Yet, you remain, pinned, riveted by horror and revulsion, knowing you should flee, yet you stay and WATCH, an unwilling observer, a voyeur to sonic destruction, the sound repulsing you yet also calling you to join in, to arm yourself and join the swelling wave of total annihilation and promising you eternal love and adoration. Even though you know it’s going to reduce you to your component atoms when it is done with everything else.
The Death of Money play music that encompasses the naked, raw emotion of Post-Punk, Shoegaze and Gothic Rock and slam it at improbable, probably theoretical velocities into Sludge and Doom Metal. Then they record the results and release the malformed, shambling chimera into the world and laugh at the destruction it causes, and the consternation of Yorkshire wannabe writers attempting to describe what it is.
The record opens with the title track, ‘Error After Era’, and it is a haunting, repetitive (deliberately) song that builds and builds and builds until it is eye-bleedingly painful to listen to. Loop upon loop of distortion, gently insistent synth work, vocals and drums extend themselves into ever longer pieces that come together excruciatingly slowly over the ten minutes this song lasts. It really does set the tone for what is to come, where many of the tunes aren’t so much music as cathartic explosions of emotion. Everything from gentle guitar loops to utterly terrifying, inchoate screaming and alienated hatred are the order of the day here, tinged heavily with an underlying sadness and sorrow that tugs at heartstrings at the same time as it is eviscerating your face. Imagine, if you please, the bitterness and Drone of Swans and mix that with the experimentation and soundscape building of the likes of Fudge Tunnel and Chapterhouse and YAWN, and you get an idea of what The Death of Money sound like. Their combination of high concept and destructive noise is unique and special and it is enhanced by the inclusion of vocalist Bethan Lloyd on the title track and on ‘Wasp Screams’, where she was responsible for the lyrics as well as the vocal performance. Her combination of waspish, sharp, clean vocals and almost indistinct syllabification offer the listener a somewhat surreal, abrasive experience, like having nerves sandpapered, but feeling no pain at the same time.
All in all, The Death of Money have fucked up my list of the best records of 2024. It was fairly settled, but now it is not. The Death of Money are more than a bit special in the British scene, and “Error After Era” is an absolutely blistering tribute to a twenty-year career in sonic terrorism. They really shouldn’t be whispered about in circles embracing the underground. They should be as coruscating, as huge, as expansive as their sound is. They are more than good enough to be fucking huge.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (Y system sblatter gwaed Dark Juan patent, ar gyfer fy ffrindiau Cymreig. Ie falle mod i’n Sais, ond dwi’n caru chi bois ac yn enwedig Gorllewin Cymru, lle ro’n i’n arfer byw. Dwi’n colli chwarae’n fyw gyda Doomcrow yn Fuel yng Nghaerdydd ac yn Crowley’s yn Abertawe… That’s probably entirely wrong but what the hell, at least I’m trying, which is more than many English do!) awards The Death of Money the full tamale – 10/10 for an album that has blown Dark Juan’s spine cleanly out of his back and left him a dribbling, jellylike mess on the floor in the face of the sonic peine forte a dure he has just endured.
TRACKLISTING:
- Error After Era
- Haunt Me
- Poems
- Living in Fear
- Wasp Screams
- Old Pain
LINE-UP:
Darren Kaskie – Vocals, guitar, bass, mellotron, synth
Ian Charles – Drums
Marc Real – Bass (live)
Bethan Lloyd – Vocals on tracks 1 and 5
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
