ALBUM REVIEW: Near-Death Travel Services – Deadguy
Very much a defining example of a cult band, DEADGUY exploded out of New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1994 and proceeded to drop two well received 7”s in White Meat and Work Ethic. Following this, 1995’s seminal Fixation On A Co-Worker and 1996’s Screamin’ With The Deadguy Quintet cementing their legacy.
DEADGUY‘s caustic mix of hardcore, metal and noise rock saw them making a name for themselves in underground circles, and Fixation On A Co-Worker would see them gaining plaudits and introducing them to a new audience (SEPULTURA drummer Igor Cavalera wore a Deadguy Death To False Metal t-shirt on promo pics for the bands Roots album). However, just as the band were poised to take it to the next level, they split up.
While that split was devastating (although it did give us Kiss It Goodbye), hopes were raised with a must see documentary about the band called Deadguy: Killing Music emerged and then a gradual slew of live dates happened (including two standout sets at the 2023 incarnation of Damnation Festival in Manchester). Then, the announcement of a brand new Deadguy studio album had fans reached fever pitch with excitement.
That album, Near-Death Travel Services, is now and thirty years on from Fixation On A Co-Worker, DEADGUY are still killing it with a jaw dropping heaviness and an essential collection of songs that will thrill any lover of DEADGUY both past and present.
The moment that opening track Kill Fee explodes marks the sound of the return of Deadguy and it is an incendiary noise that shows so many bands exactly how it is done. From then on, Deadguy don’t let up one bit and roll back the years with a fearsome display of metal tinged hardcore, put simply, the band are sounding angrier than ever and it is a joy to hear.
This is far from some nostalgic trip back into the days of hardcore past, this is now and it sounds as vibrant as DEADGUY did back in the 90s, with the band’s noisy and discordant hardcore sound crushing all in its path from start to finish.
Songs like Barn Burner, War With Strangers, Knife Sharpener and All Stick & No Carrot pack that familiar DEADGUY punch but alongside that, there is a crackling vibe of vitality and energy that prevails throughout the duration of the album. Rach member of the band plays a blinder, not putting a foot working at any point.
The guitars of Chris Corvino (aka Crispy) and Keith Huckins sound utterly razor sharp, and combined with drummer Dave Rosenberg and bassist Jimmy Baglino’s rhythmic assault, and the still formidable vocals of Tim Singer, you have a perfect storm of what makes DEADGUY so special. This is personified on every single one of the album’s eleven tracks, with standouts like The Forever People and The Alarmist standing proud in a blur of joyous chaos.
Comebacks are rarely as vital, as exciting and as life affirming as this, especially after three decades and it has to be said that DEADGUY have just set the standard once again with Near-Death Travel Services. Songs that stand tall alongside their past music but forging new paths ahead. DEADGUY are back, and with all the chaos that engulfs the globe daily, at least there is that to celebrate.
Rating: 9/10
Near-Death Travel Services is out now via Relapse Records.
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