We’ll be honest, while we like to think we have a pretty eclectic vinyl collection, we tend to not seek out rare stuff that often just because we’d rather own the physical product first, fancy stuff later. That said, we were legitimately DISTRESSED when we hopped on the Greet Death train following single “Country Girl” and found that the initial run of their upcoming 3rd full-length sold the fuck out. Again, more because that’s our means of owning physical product/supporting the artist (No more CD’s ever if we can help it and hells to the no on cassettes …) than it is having some rare limited pressing. Luckily another run was announced and we jumped on that so yaye, crisis averted.
And yep, Die In Love is all that and a bag of chips. The preeminent Post-Shoe AlternaRawk album you needed in your collection yesterday, Die In Love boasts big songs, even bigger feels and is almost like two different albums with the way the first and second halves differ but are all still part of a whole thanks to the cohesiveness and blended songwriting styles of Logan Gaval and Harper Boyhtari (Who both handle vocals and guitar).
The title track starts the new Greet Death record with a collision of sound before settling into this sort of sweet serenity while “Same but Different Now” is a driving ditty which ebbs and flows and eventually escalates into a righteous rumble egged on by the combination of Jimmy Versluis’ persistent pummeling and Seth Beck’s low end as Gaval’s scream ring out. There’s no screaming to be heard on the one that sucked us in, “Country Girl”, which is just sonic storytelling (And visual storytelling as seen in the accompanying video here) at its’ finest and the kind of track that you can listen to over and over and over some more and still find something spectacular that stands out in Boyhtari’s songwriting with “Red Rocket” echoing the downtroddenness (Not a word) of it all in this Gaval-led track that’s filled with glistening, intertwining guitars from Logan, Harper, and Eric Beck.
“Emptiness Is Everywhere” is just gorgeous, built off this collective instrumental hum from all parties ceremoniously syncing up with Harper’s voice gliding over all like an ethereal presence, “August Underground” steadily stamps its’ way in next as crushing guitars offset Logan’s haunting vocal delivery, and “Small Town Cemetery” reminds us of some of Creepoid’s quieter output. Latest single “Motherfucker” follows suit sonically from there with an emphasis on a Sludgy ’90’s Alternative aesthetic (Think Dinosaur Jr.) with Laval and Boyhtari’s voices intimately intertwining and then “Love Me When You Leave” is an epic almost 7 minute finale as Harper has the last word on a song that brings to mind some of the best emotive Indie Alt Rawk that the mid-’00’s had to offer.
Die In Love is out on June 27th through Deathwish and you can pre-order your very own copy (On at least its’ 2nd pressing already when talking vinyl) by heading here. For more from Greet Death, including upcoming tour dates such as the one that’ll bring them to Boston’s Royale on September 21st supporting Nation Of Language, hit the information superhighway and make stops here or here.