[.ca] Dying To Meet You

Strictly Bangerz:
Man, 2 SURLY dudes making EVIL new wave music. They are totally slept on in NEW YORK, this record is great, I like to listen to it after a night of running in the FOREST in my invisibility cloak scaring FARMERS....but they are BETTER live. GO SEE THEM LIVE.

Front-heavy yet impressive:
This is one of those albums that can't maintain the same momentum throught all the songs, but on the strength of the first 5 tracks, it gets a solid 4 stars. The sound here is like a post-Amrep sound (their previous incarnation, Hammerhead, was on Amphetamine Reptile Records) with a lot of twists and turns. The opening cut "They've Won" may just be the most perfect song I've heard all year. It has a dense-yet-dreamy feel, like the great band Failure. At other times ("White World Of Death") the drums speed by like snowflakes in a blizzard in front of a blinding guitar whitewash (yes - they've used overdubs). Vaz can also lope into a haunting slower mode, yet still maintain enough melody as not to be heavy for heavy's sake, which is where a lot of the bands of this genre lose me. These lads are breaking into some challenging new ground, and I'd love to see them do this live. The disc wanders off into some lo-fi clanky stuff near the end, but 80% of these songs are well-crafted and have been growing on me over time.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.:
This 2nd release from Vaz (a project from the band Hammerhead) will never be labeled as a "sophomore slump". The chaos of these songs blazes through 30 minutes of rock so quickly you'll miss it the instant the last note is struck. The duo juggle time signatures and rhythms from one moment to the next, leaving barely enough time for them to breathe in between songs. Beyond the eerie similarity to Ian Curtis's voice, what stands out is how melodic the vocals are. Downright catchy at times, these tunes are what mainstream rock radio could sound like if it were actually interesting. But songs about drive-by swordfights and lifelike headless statues are not mainstream fodder, and for that we have Vaz. We should consider ourselves lucky.

• They've Won
• Blue Lip Special
• Elastik-C
• White World of Death
• Headless Statue
• White Wall
• Give Us the Creeps
• I.V.
• Freon Suite No. 2
• Drive-By Swordfight
• Metal Egg
• Kill the Strings
• Crown in My Future
• Fired Eye Quit