As a non-musician, it baffles me when I listen to a band for the first time and I can easily point to their influences, but somehow I cannot point to a single group who this band sounds like. That’s good, right? Creating a sound that is not necessarily unique, but distinct? I assume it must take a tremendous level of both technical skill and creativity to manage this, and Dead Register is one of those bands. M Chvasta (PALACES, Light Pupil Dilate) and his wife, Avril Che, formed Dead Register back in 2013 as an “electro-doom” duo, soon recruiting Chad Williams (Magnapop) on the drums in lieu of a drum machine. Their demo, TRVNS BLVK, released in the summer of 2014, draws from varied influences such as post-punk, death rock, black metal and doom in three tracks that run just under 30 minutes, and is unabashedly my favorite Atlanta release of this decade so far.
The tracks on here are caked in gloom and melancholy, but instead of wallowing in misery, they feel self-aware and resolute. The first track, “Alone,” is minimal and repetitive—but not plodding—in tone for the first six minutes, with subtle changes in the main riff/framework (of which the guitar tone is unmistakably Godflesh), before rising in intensity for the last few minutes. However, this feels very different from the usual soft-loud dynamics found in post-metal, even though I occasionally hear some hints of Neurosis, especially in the two tracks to come.
Chvasta’s clean vocals are even more prominent on the second track, “Ordinary.” The first half of this song is particularly melodramatic in tone, in a way that reminds me of My Dying Bride, before reaching a brief midsection that is, for lack of another word that appropriately conveys the atmosphere, vampiric. Over ominously slow, almost psychedelic, tremolo picking, Chvasta croons, “There’s no end to this vicious cycle” in a way that’s not exactly hostile, but not exactly welcoming, either. It’s not ostentatious in the slightest, but the subdued sincerity of it is almost too much—somewhere between a meditative confession and a desperate plea, marked with immense vulnerability and longing. The second half of the track is even more sprawling than the first, though with a little more going on in the background to keep things interesting. If I had to refer to any of the tracks here as “epic,” this would be it.
The record’s closing cut, “With Sympathies,” is the most busy and hurried of the three tracks here. It is also the shortest, clocking in at under 9 minutes—but it feels even shorter than that. The first half of the song alternates between bass synths laden with romantic atmosphere and a downtuned, Bolt Thrower-like dirge. A fantastic, but somewhat unexpected, breakdown around the 5-minute mark brings us down into the depths momentarily, before an almost-bluesy guitar lead summons us out in dreamlike fashion.
As abundant as it is in atmosphere, minimalism and repetition, TRVNS BLVK is still pretty riff-oriented; I’ve found myself humming the guitar/synth lines and vocal melodies of these three tracks at seemingly random times. These songs will humbly burrow into your skull and leave you brooding, but not sulking; there’s a latent ecstasy buried within the gloom and melancholy here that’s just too perfect and untouched to describe.
Dead Register will perform on Sun., Oct. 11 at the Masquerade when they open for King Dude, Foie Gras and fellow locals Pallow. Doors open at 7 p.m. Admission is $12.
More Info
Bandcamp: deadregister.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @deadregister