Self-released
Release date: March 13, 2020
Production: Marko Jurkošek
EP length: 17.10 min
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Rating: 8.5/10
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Dead Crew are a fresh Slovenian groove metal and hard rock outfit from Braslovče. In other words, Savinja folks. »Joe Blacksmith« is their five-track EP, which came out in mid-March this year and introduces a band of four seasoned musicians who handle trendy studio production tricks with real skill, and who ride the middle line between metal and hard rock with just as much artistic flair. They’re also loaded up with an “alternative” touch and soak up “groove” atmospheres that lean more dark than anything else. Slyly slipped into the mix is a springboard of punk rock’n’roll, where you can tell the guys are Motörhead fans.
The songs are driven by a likeable vocal that, as the opener puts it, sounds punky, rowdy, angry and aggressive enough. It carries a measure of throatiness and mostly stays in the mid-range, where it develops the most breadth and fullness of vocal volume. In fact, the vocals are the key tipping point in the Dead Crew story, and with their bite and power they stretch the atmospheric reach of the compositions by contrast.
Dead Crew steer clear of overcomplicating things. The songs are stripped down and bare, yet honed to a virtuous sharpness in their phrasing. They speak directly and build first and foremost on grabbing you right away. The riffs and rhythms are pleasingly penetrating and catchy. They develop their own expressive stance, even though traces of clichés are present, which you could quietly expect, as in Devil’s Dance. Interestingly enough, though, that track is also fine proof that the guys spent quite a while working out the shape of all five songs on this EP. Despite its predictable lead phrase and rhythm, it’s also varied enough (a calm keyboard passage in the second half, with a theatrical modulation in the outro). So alongside the simplicity and direct punch they were primarily after, the guys took a layered approach to the arrangements. They equipped the tunes with a solid helping of backing vocal harmonies, which works especially well in the closing, melancholic, hard-hitting ballad The Night Replaced My Day. The band also released two promo singles, for the opening, hard-hitting, devilish and mocking Bastard and for God’s Hives, though it would almost make no difference which of the five tracks on this EP the quartet picked for singles, because they’re all simply very well polished, in a way that builds variety between them and grabs you right away. Masters of the Universe has a few occasional stylistic parallels with the opening Bastard, and it should go down well with Cepo, the skilled Slovenian entrepreneur in the action-figure trade, who recently became a neighbor of the band (in Velenje).
The style reflects an expressive blend of the members’ involvement in previous bands (among others Pero Lovšin, Interceptor, Legalo Kriminalo), so it’s hardly surprising that Dead Crew can spread out across genres quite a bit, riding from the traditional values of heavy and thrash metal, through gloomy hard rock rascality, to a mildly morbid yet trendy alternative pose and an internalized rock’n’roll groove.
The »Joe Blacksmith« EP is a bold introduction to a new musical story, one that is very likely already taking the first real shape of a studio debut. Expect the band to hone and define their musical vision even further on their first album, building a dossier all their own. The »Joe Blacksmith« EP is a precise, conscientious, heartfelt, dedicated and resolutely measured step in that direction. To be more precise – in the right direction. “So Blacksmith Joe is really pumping it out!”
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Bastard
2. Devil’s Dance
2. God’s Hives
4. Masters of the Universe
5. The Night Replaced My Day
Lineup:
Simon Cukjati – vocals, guitar
Žan Krajnc – guitar)
Grega “Chedo” Šket – bass guitar
Robi Dobrišek – drums
