Deadstar Assembly - Unsaved
Pure Records
Gothic / Industrial
15 songs (51:50)
Release year: 2006
Deadstar Assembly, Pure Records
Reviewed by Al

Every town has one. A shopping centre or mall containing either a Grin (if you live in the UK) or a Hot Topic (if you live in the US) where hordes of 15 year old hoodie wearing goth lites will congregate and talk about pain and how no one understands them. They may also write poetry about death and how their mum undercooked their breakfast. Their music choice tends to stick to what’s popular among other non-conformists such as themselves and thus bands such as Slipknot, Manson and Cradle of Filth really turn the crank of these misunderstood youths. They help them to portray their feelings of anguish against a world that has shunned them by way of ‘edgy’ metallic music and the use of makeup / masks. There will soon be another band joining these ranks and prying away the hard earned allowances from these kiddies greasy paws, that band is Florida’s Deadstar Assembly.

How on Earth, I hear you cry, can I make such a rash, bold prediction? I can, dear reader, for two reasons. The first is that musically Deadstar Assembly push all the correct buttons. Simplistic, downtuned distorted guitars ad infinitum? Check. Smatterings of industrial and techno beeps and whistles? Check. Angstier than thou nasally vocals sung with enough pop sensibility to be instantly accessible and consumed yet with enough ‘anger’ and ‘pain’ to endear them to the aforementioned dark hordes? Big check. The other reason is the bands image. I know that image should have nothing to do with the music but when it becomes a centrepiece in the way Slipknot or Manson incorporate it I think it’s worth mentioning. Not only do the band look like they’ve tried to fit every over the counter goth accessory on their person at the same time, they have adopted mildly ludicrous stage names and ever so evil joy filled ‘jobs’. For example ‘Cygnus’ is responsible for ‘percussion & bloodsucking’ (yum!) whilst ‘The Dro’ is responsible for ‘Bass, Subsonic Tremors, Pyro & Shocking Innocent Victims’ (He so evil!) It would all be an awesome joke (well I’d laugh) if it was meant as such, but unfortunately a read of the bands bio suggests that these guys take themselves very seriously. Ouch.

That aside it’s time for an in depth analysis of the music. This is the band’s sophomore effort, the follow up to 2003’s self titled debut. The music in a nutshell consists of a mix of industrial style distorted riffing and typical metal drumming spiced up with the use of synth, keyboards and the odd techno blips or samples thrown in. Overall they come off sounding like a mix of Manson, Static-X, Orgy and Nine Inch Nails but with any semblance of inventiveness sucked out. While some songs like single Killing Myself Again, Dejected and Naïve might suck you in with their angst ridden industrial charms, after three listens or so any discerning music lover will see past the unbelievable catchiness and sugary production and realise that they are listening to nothing more than pop with distortion. For this reason it gets old very, very quickly. Underneath all the supposed edginess and makeup, this is basically the same throwaway disposable nonsense that populates the charts.

There is very little to commend on this release, the production is good and there is a very slight charm in some of the catchiness before it all gets annoying, saving it barely from a ‘crap of the month’ award. The whole album follows the same formula, with the exception of two mild divergences by way of semi-ballads And Ashes Will Fall and Bled which both achieve nothing except teaching the listener a new definition of dull. This means that if you like one song, you’ll like them all and ergo if one song grates on your nerves you’ll want to hunt down those responsible and spank them with a plank by the time the album ends.

The depressing thing is that no matter how blatantly awful and manufactured this is, I still know that it will do well. Nothing I can say will dissuade the hordes of kids going down to their local record store and handing over cash for this stuff. The band will enjoy dubious fame until the 3rd album or so when they stop being current and cool and then fade from the collective consciousness as the marketing evaporates. Call me a cynic but I’ve seen it happen many times. So if you’re one of those kids, sitting there in your Slipknot shirt reading this, go do something amazing. Take that money burning a hole in your pocket with which you were going to purchase this album and instead go and give it to a band that actually gives a shit about music. Every person who does this makes the world a slightly better place…

The band's Myspace, watch the video for much hilarity: Killing Myself Again

Killing Songs :
Al quoted 35 / 100
Other albums by Deadstar Assembly that we have reviewed:
Deadstar Assembly - Blame It on the Devil reviewed by Andy and quoted 30 / 100
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There are 5 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:44 am
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