The Austin band The Dead Space already is no more. Somehow, they're back from the dead with this release on 12XU. Chlorine Dream, recorded in 2015, is out now, and it was the first record from the band in six years prior to that. It's a beast, whether the trio exists anymore or not.
"Head on the Glass" throbs with bad intent, while "Sick & Humble" is a neat blending of a Buzzcocks hook with a Black Flag punch. Elsewhere, "So Wasteful" veers dangerously close to approximating the riff from "Search & Destroy" but that's okay because this is pretty excellent. Quin Galavis (vocals, bass), Garrett Hadden (guitar), and Jenny Arthur (drums) imbue this all with wicked purpose, driving every cut into the heart of the sun. As such, Chlorine Dream churns at a magnificent clip, while a few numbers ("No Harvest", "True Shame") slow things down enough to earn some comparisons to The Jesus Lizard or Shellac. If The Dead Space were not an act that was quite so unforgiving, they were truly capable of achieving something heavy on the back of a few chords and the most basic of set-ups. In that sense, this record echoes the best releases on labels like SST from decades ago. What other praise could I give?
Chlorine Sleep is out now via 12XU.
[Photo: Angela Betancourt]