SHE Spells Doom – Neon Death EP

By Corey Maass

I don’t usually look up artists, but this EP made me curious. Zambia by way of Switzerland with a love of 80s sci-fi and horror? First of all, yes to all of those things. Second of all, it all makes sense when you listen.

“Death Screen” sets the stage, burying UK funky, kuduro and soca rhythms and industrial percussion in dark fields of reverb and layered drums. It jabs this way and that, until relieving the tension, but only when the track is ready. Eventually, it smoothes out into sunrise pads and warm subs, in a really interesting resolution of the scene.

“Afterlife II” could be an afterthought or the whole point of the EP. ‎Projekt Records’ Love Spirals Downward or Black Tape for a Blue Girl (best band name ever) springs to mind. Slightly medieval, it’s haunting, morose and slightly out of fit with the rest of the EP.

“New Body” brings us back to the catacombs of rhythm we heard in Death Screen but combined with the synth drapery from Afterlife II. If they’d allowed polyrhythm at the Batcave, New Body would’ve been a hit.

Finally, “Vega Tool” covers the space and pace of ghom in a particularly funky shroud. It’s a great conclusion to this wonderfully singular EP.

Posted on June 17, 2019