Harmony is the fourth effort by New Zealanders Die Die Die and with ‘Harmony’ we have a jagged and energetic album to sink our teeth into.
We jump right into the frenetic pace of ‘Oblivious Oblivion’, with guitars blazing and drums banging from the offset. The vocals have a lo-fi, almost underwater quality to them that tells we are not in for a well polished record. This record is intended to be raw and you will not find clean breaks and high production values on display.
The album continues at breakneck speed with the eponymous ‘Harmony’, clocking in at near seven minutes, we have a huge track that never lets up. The problem is that it sounds like it could be louder, there could be a lot more pace, imagine At The Drive In but with the amps turned down just a little too much. There’s a lot of energy on display but it’s a little misdirected.
‘Erase Waves’ feels a lot like the very early punk rock stylings of The Beastie Boys and vocally shares a lot of similarities to Mike D, sadly this is forgotten by the time we reach ‘Trinity’, ‘Seasons Revenge’ and ‘No One Owns A View’ all appear to be a carbon copy of the other and as such are quickly forgotten. ‘Changeman’ shakes things up a little and with the Placebo-esque ’16 Shades Of Blue’ we finally hear what this band are capable of producing.
The belated rich vein of form continues with ‘Twitching Sunshine’, musically there is a great improvement, the vocals don’t seem so forced and it’s genuinely a pleasure to listen. The same can be said for the denouement. ‘Get Back’ is a real treat, Chris Townend’s production finally pays some dividends with an absolutely huge track that is just the assault on the eardrums that we needed. It’s just a shame its a pretty hard slog to get to this point.
◀ STANDOUT ⁞ Twitching Sunshine ▶
◀ SOUNDS LIKE ⁞ At The Drive In ▶
