ALBUM REVIEW: Cold World – Death Lens

DEATH LENS have changed their musical style up on their fourth album Cold World. The five-piece started out in 2012 as an instrumental only group before pushing themselves to become the staple punk/indie/Britrock band that they are known as, but after releasing their third album No Luck in 2022, and touring with both MILITARIE GUN and TOGETHER PANGEA, the band have moved away from the music that they mimicked in the early stages of their existence. Across 11 songs, they showcase the best of their musical abilities and push themselves further than ever.

Opening song Fucked Up is a fast-paced punk song that slaps the listener in the face with its loud verses that are expertly contrasted with the sing-along choruses which are slightly calmer. After the equally in-your-face recent single Disturb The Peace, and the fast-paced rock of Turnout, the album threatens to merge into one incomprehensible blur of punk, although the band are clearly talented at it. But DEATH LENS are clever enough to switch things up and test the waters of grunge on the next song Limousine, which slows the pacing of the album a lot. Whilst the band do incorporate a bit of a punk sound during the end of the song, it is only for around 30 seconds and fits well into the song as a nice callback to the style of the first three songs.

The rest of the album flirts with rock (Nothing’s Forever and Vacant), indie-rock (Bruised), and grunge (Not Enough and the title track), while the closing song Lo Que Sera is an acoustic track that is a welcome break from faster pace of everything else. But despite all the genre-hopping, Cold World isn’t cluttered. Perhaps this is because the band are smart enough to dedicate a few songs in a row to a certain genre before moving onto the next one, or because some songs incorporate small parts of previous genres in them to keep the album sounding cohesive.

Overall then, Cold World is a fantastic album. The band have pushed themselves sonically and it never feels gimmicky. The production of the album is particularly special as it could have easily fallen apart with all the genre-hopping, but instead DEATH LENS have created a slick, listenable and very enjoyable fourth album that pushes their musical boundaries whilst still feeling like a natural progression.

Rating: 8/10

Cold World is out now via Epitaph Records.

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