Deathchant – 7th Level Music

Review: Deathchant – Waste

Imagine Thin Lizzy fronted by a guy who looks like a heftier Frank Zappa but with a voice like Lemmy Kilmister (T.J. Lemieux), and you’ll pretty much have the sound of Deathchant and their second album, Waste.

The seven-track album rips by you faster than a drag strip car, barely coming in over half an hour in length. These guys don’t fool around or waste time. The first track, “Rails,” sounds like the album is about to come off them after the first drum fill by Colin Fahrner. Deathchant’s melodic heavy metal instantly makes you want to customize a Dodge van and hit the road with a foxy lady dressed in bellbottom hip-huggers and an American flag bikini top…while you’re possibly being chased by a wizard. “Black Dirt” has you stomping the gas in that van in order to make it past a haunted mesa before dusk. “Holy Roller” is one of the album’s heaviest cuts. Lemieux and fellow guitarist / vocalist John Belino simply unload twin machine guns on it, and George Camacho‘s bass is like a sledgehammer taking out any survivors.

The whole band’s stunning ability to just jam is apparent on “Gallows.” The title track is over five minutes long, which seems like an epic poem from Deathchant, and it’s suitable for a heroic journey to a dark land to vanquish a monster and return with a mystical orb. The thing starts like squealing race car tires and then bursts from the starting line and never looks back.

“Plague” has neat guitar work balanced well between Lemieux and Belino while Belino sings of bodies lying in the streets. The album ends with “Maker,” a rocking track that features a friendly competition between Camacho and Fahrner – almost like they’re trying to see which of them might stumble first upon the driving rhythm of the track.

Waste is a solid rock record, and Deathchant seem to have had a blast making it – judging by how fun it is to hear.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day Two

We started off the second day of the Las Vegas Psycho Music Festival with what would become our morning ritual over the next three days – lounging by the Luxor Casino Hotel’s pool in the dry heat after picking up a breakfast sandwich at one of the somewhat-overpriced restaurants in the hotel. We’d relax for a couple hours, wash off the sweat, and then go see some bands. It was a great way to save money because we had little time to spend at the gambling tables and slot machines.

Our musical entertainment began with Foie Gras and her industrial-goth set at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues venue. She put on a good set to an early crowd, and my wife loved her combination of a T-shirt and flamenco dancer sleeves.

Foie Gras with her rockin’ sleeves and blood-painted knees.

Up next was something completely different – a set by Deathchant, who I can probably best describe as sounding like a fuzzier Thin Lizzy. The played the “Rock & Rhythm Lounge,” which is in near multiple restaurants in the casino, so you can get your eardrums blasted while enjoying your expensive wine and French cuisine – or while shoving money into video slot machines. Deathchant were loud and rough and a wild afternoon wakeup call.

Deathchant playing like every song was their finale.

We took a five-hour break, more than enough time to get a nap and dinner before coming back to the Lounge to see British stoner metal quartet Psychlona. It was their first gig win Las Vegas and only their second show of their U.S. tour. “We are so fucking stoked,” their lead singer said, and they certainly played like it. Afterward, their singer told me their set was better than the one they’d just played in San Diego the previous night.

Shoegaze quartet Highlands were up next and brought a welcome change of sound to the Lounge and the festival in general. I’m a big shoegaze fan, and they didn’t disappoint. There was a nice, reverb-laden wall of sound coming from the stage for their whole set.

We then zipped across the casino and back to the House of Blues to see one of my most anticipated sets of the festival – a Bossa nova set from Claude Fontaine. The set was lightly attended, and I couldn’t help but think many were there from a previous metal set or waiting for the next metal band to play after her. The crowd wasn’t sure what to make of her at first, as they’d been so used to metal that a soft set of Bossa nova tracks with dub influences seemed alien to them. Ms. Fontaine put on the loveliest set of the festival (her first time playing in Las Vegas) and the small crowd did come around to appreciating the hypnotizing, alluring music she gave.

Our night ended at the Mandalay Beach stage, which sits opposite a man-made beach on a wave pool, where we saw Ty Segall and his band shred the place with their loud psychedelia – their first gig in two years. Segall’s wife even sang lead on one track. They sounded great, and the volume of the band was amplified not only by electronics, but also the water bouncing it all over the place.

Ty Segall and his crew partying at the beach.

It was our busiest day of the festival for bands – six in one day – but there were plenty more to come.

Up next, more shoegaze at the Lounge and three arena shows ranging from dub to goth metal.

Keep your mind open.

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Deathchant unleash “Holy Roller” from upcoming album due June 25th.

L.A. quartet Deathchant share the first single from their forthcoming sophomore album Waste today via Metal Injection. Waste is the band’s debut on RidingEasy Records. Hear and share “Holy Roller” HERE. (Direct YouTube and Bandcamp.)
Heavy music’s evolution has always been a murky swamp of sub-genres. So, combining Thin Lizzy’s glistening twin guitar harmonies with Melvins-grade sludge and a hearty dose of proto-metal psych probably shouldn’t sound so revolutionary as it does in the hands of L.A. quartet Deathchant. But theirs is a special, transcendent sound.

Waste, the band’s sophomore album and first for RidingEasy Records, is anything but. The 33-minute, 7-song blast flows seamlessly from song to song, aided by droning segues, while simultaneously slithering between genres and moods. Rumbling noise, chiming guitar melodies, bluesy boogie, NWOBHM thrash, COC grunge and punk fury all rear their head at times, sometimes all at once.

Though you wouldn’t be able to tell by the concise structures and well-crafted songs, a lot of Deathchant’s music is improvised, both in the studio and live. That’s not to suggest their songs are jammy — they’re very tightly organized compositions. But the four musicians have that special musical telepathy that allows them to keep the song structures open-ended.

“Improv is a huge things for us and always has been,” singer/guitarist T.J. Lemieux says. “The musical freedom to look at the other dudes in the band and be able to take things wherever we want to go is magical. I like the feel of flying off the hinges.”
Likewise, the band itself is similarly amorphous in its membership. “We run the band with an open door. No lineup is definitive,” Lemieux explains. On Waste, the lineup is: Lemieux, George Camacho on bass, Colin Fahrner on drums, and John Belino on second guitar.

Waste was recorded live in a rented cabin in the mountains of Big Bear, CA. “We packed a big-ass van and set up in the living room and kitchen,” Lemieux says. “Tracked it live, with overdubs after.” The whole album was recorded over two separate weekends, engineered by Steve Schroeder, who also recorded the band’s 2019 self-titled debut album.

“I’d say it has sort of a DIY LA punk aesthetic,” he adds. “Very ironically going hand in hand with a classic metal vibe: Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, classic Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and other melodic heavy rock bands.”

Waste will be available on LP, CD and download on June 25th, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]