FONTAINES D.C.
A Hero's Death
PARTISAN / LIBERATOR
2020 is officially the year of doom and gloom, so it feels fitting that LP2 from these trailblazing post-punks would be distinctly crushing.
The guitars are tuned low and simmer with a ghostly, almost unsettling angularity. The melodies they warble out are lustrous and catchy, but spun through a filter of flagrance à la Grian Chatten’s dull, numbing howl that leaves the whole affair feeling like a car crash that you just can’t help but stare intently at.
This all surely reads as negativity, but let us be clear: A Hero’s Death is certainly worth diving into. It’s a record that revels in the kind of off-kilter garishness that a good horror flick does – certainly not for kids, and admittedly rather niche, but for those to whom it does appeal, there’s a damn good time to be had.
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