Dead Pleasures – A Chorus Of Corpses

United Kingdom horror-punk act Dead Pleasures wants to be Bitzkid or any other number of horror acts.  And given vocalists “D Zombie” and “Psycho Billeth” sharing a style with many of their soft-spoken, crooning contemporaries, that’s not an unrealistic aspiration.  Their debut seven track EP, A Chorus Of Corpses, is, while certainly rough around the edges, a promising start.

To their benefit, Dead Pleasures present a very simplified horror sound.  Their tracks play like mid-tempo melodic punk with a thin layer of audio extras.  Sometimes they throw in an organ as per “Suffocate,” and sometimes the vocals come flooded in an echoic quality.  Furthermore, A Chorus Of Corpses has plenty of “woahs” and “ooohs” holding up choruses and bestowing them with plenty of sing along potential.  It all comes together most effectively on the concluding track “Evil Dead” – a track serving as an ode to the cult classic of the same name.

But at the same time their simplicity can at times leave something to be desired.  A Chorus Of Corpses is first and foremost a first effort, and sometimes comes across like a demo or live recording.  Put otherwise, the recording quality feels rather shallow, often muffling the lead guitars and vocal croon, and ultimately narrowing the instrumental range and detracting from each musician’s individual contributions.  While clearly not a song-writing hiccup or any fault of the band’s vision, if they want to carry forward they’re going to have to polish up their finished product – especially in a genre where sound effects and guitars work together to create a sense of chilling atmosphere.  As it stands now, many of these tracks stand in the shadow of their influences, just feeling like they’re missing that essential bit of “oomph.”

I should mention though that since A Chorus Of Corpses landed the band has surfaced some new material on their label’s The Sound Of Horror Vol. 1 compilation.  The new track, titled “Bones,” largely addresses most of the issues preventing my full enjoyment of their debut.  “Bones” boasts a cleaner clarity, allowing for their musicianship to shine untarnished.  The track also pushes the band’s previous simple lyrics, and develops a greater story telling capacity.  Should an official follow-up clean up and refine A Chorus Of Corpses’ strengths as per “Bones,” the Dead Pleasures could easily find themselves working their way up the ranks of the undead legions.