The Dead Krazukies – CIPHER

We’ve been actively filtering for Euro punk in the review pile recently and … ‘hold on, let me stop you right there,’ you say, ‘that’s a bit condescending, isn’t it?‘. And you’re right, because if we have learned nothing else in the past few decades, we know that the days of the primacy of native English-singing bands are history and have been for a long time. Let’s call the excellent bands (too many to namecheck individually) the final nail in the Plastic Bertrand coffin. Hossegor, France’s The Dead Krazukies are an almost flawless example of the universality of modern punk. Their punk/metal fusion is a joyous rollercoaster that swoops and thunders around the track. It would be a disservice to liken it to other music or say it’s For Fans Of … because it’s unashamedly of itself. And that’s plenty.

The forthcoming album CIPHER is a hugely affirming and infectious piece of work that finds the band in storming form. It is massively and infectious tuneful, from the rocking, full tilt opener Before The Storm, through to its surprising closing piece Playa Nevada. More on that later. Every song is anthemic and that makes this album sound like a Greatest Hits package. That’s quite the accolade. There’s a fine margin between having a trademark sound and lacking invention. The Dead Krazukies definitely have the former and do enough in terms of musicality to avoid the latter. There’s plenty of frantic riffing energy (Far And Beyond, The Unseen One, All The Noise, Silverlines) and songs where the foot is a bit lighter on the accelerator (Elysium, Blackwall, Neuralyzer and the single 1997). They’re all crisp and tight as tight can be and The Dead Krazukies don’t really do subtle. They don’t do nuance. They do drama: they do huge, they do anthemic. This album has a lot of muscle, a lot of pumped-up energy, but doesn’t feel overblown or pompous. And it sounds fantastic. The drums are tight and frantic, the bass thunders and the guitar sound is awesome. Topped with raw and emotive (sometimes) dual vocals, this is a superbly well-crafted and powerful package. More rock than punk at times, but who’s going to split genre hairs? The spirit of both is strong.

Standout track for me is the gloriously pummelling Silverlines. Surprise of the album? The closing track Playa Nevada which is laid-back mariachi-tinged acoustic ska. The Dead Krazukies are anything but dead. They are gloriously, thunderously, ecstatically alive. Long may they live.

 Cipher will be released on the 24th June via SBÄM Records.