Death in Vegas :: Death Mask (Drone)

The nine tracks of Death Mask fall into techno. However, such labelling does this record a disservice. Richard Fearless is pushing the limitations of the genre and forging new paths within the sound. His ability, and years of experience, come to the fore as new audio explorations are charted.

A similar distain for style expectations

It was in 2004 that Drone was set up for Death in Vegas’ electronic musings. Spearheaded by Richard Fearless, the imprint has explored the blurred margins of ambient, drone, techno and wave. The culmination of the label’s twenty year existence is just hitting record shelves: Death Mask. 

Pulling together a spread of styles, the record opens with the wistful “Chingola.” Ambient and uplifting; lonesome and, at the same time, enveloping. A wrecking ball plunges into this oasis of calm, the screaming siren of “Lovers” announces a stomping session. Kicks fly as a bruising beat-laden beast is unleashed, hi-hats splatter the windscreen before the break delivers relief.

Fearless has always invited artists who have cut their own lines within the frames of genre. Container and his brand of industrially corrupted techno or D’Marc Cantu’s caustic and harsh vision of house. Death Mask offers a similar distain for style expectations. “While My Machines Gently Weep” comes from the traditions of techno, but the crushed strings and factory resonance change the landscape and the message. This is the same in the euphoric “Hazel,” spiking static soaked strings rising above racing rhythms. Percussive patterns penetrate the album, complex programming pulling the listener in to allow melodic shifts to flow.

Both bright and brooding ::

A beatless reprieve comes with “Róisín Dub(h).” Whether in reference to the song or a famous Galway pub, this marine and meandering work reads like a tribute to the famous watering hole in the West of Ireland. Modulated rain and wind batter a warbling note, a note that rises ever higher against the electrical obstacles. Drums return for “Robin’s Ghost.” A steady pulse keeps time as a pyre of resonance is built, an intensity climbing and growing in this nine-minute odyssey. Tempos drop for “Your Love.” A homage of Frankie Knuckles, hard to say for sure. Either way, the silken keys and acid twang filtering through echo the classic Chicago house track. The title piece closes. An assembly line assortment of beats introduces, toms and hi-hats draped in soaring strings. Relentless, closing “Death Mask” surges with a palpable force that is both bright and brooding.

The nine tracks of Death Mask fall into techno. However, such labelling does this record a disservice. Richard Fearless is pushing the limitations of the genre and forging new paths within the sound. His ability, and years of experience, come to the fore as new audio explorations are charted. A trembling bulwark of sound, one of complimentary and contradictory tones, is constructed with the listener being given the privilege of witnessing this daring balance.

Death Mask is available on Drone. [Bandcamp]