ALBUM REVIEW: R.I.F.F – DZ Deathrays
A new DZ DEATHRAYS album is always a joyous occasion as well as being a reason to celebrate and thankfully, the band are back with their brilliant new album R.I.F.F and we can do both in tandem.
As album titles go, R.I.F.F, fits perfectly with the band and their music. It is such a perfect title for a record because this is a band who have made their name producing riff upon riff heavy music with a danceable twist to it for the past decade.
The Australian trio return with all guns blazing with R.I.F.F, which is their sixth full-length album and is the follow to the two parts of their Positive Rising albums that the band released in 2019 and 2021 respectively and it continues the upward trajectory that DZ DEATHRAYS have been on that stretches all the way back to their debut album Bloodstreams, and the band have not stopped rocking since then.
From the very start of R.I.F.F and the opening blast of Paranoid, DZ DEATHRAYS don’t mess about at all and formidably start as they mean to go on with a whirlwind of energy and it doesn’t let up until the records outro fades out. It is quite a Herculean feat to keep that energy up throughout but the band are always up to the task and that will also certainly transfer over to the live arena where these new songs will simply slay, and the fact that DZ DEATHRAYS are known for their raucous live show, that is quite the tantalising prospect.
Tracks like Tuff Luck, King B, My Mind Is Eating Me Alive, and Love And Destruction are all ready made anthems full of dancey, thrashy punked up fun that would get any party started, with vocalist/guitarist Shane Parsons acting as the ultimate party starter as he roars out the lyrics to the songs on R.I.F.F, which are perfectly formed for singalong moments.
The two others members of the antipodean trio are no slouches either as drummer Simon Ridley pounds the rhythms of the songs relentlessly while Lachlan Ewbank brings the noise with his guitar in an effective and upbeat style as well, and the whole effect is a non stop riotous exercise in noise laden dance punk madness and it is so much fun.
R.I.F.F is the an album that has come at the perfect time, and that is just as summer is rapidly approaching, the weather is getting warmer and barbecues and parties are in full force and this album will no doubt be a record that soundtracks great moments this summer for a lot of people, so if you have come for a party, turn R.I.F.F by DZ DEATHRAYS up loud and get it started triumphantly.
Rating: 7/10
R.I.F.F is set for release on June 2nd via DZ Worldwide.
Like DZ DEATHRAYS on Facebook.