There were long stretches of deathcrashs 2022 debut full-length, Return, where the London band could have easily passed for Codeine, Rodan, Slint, or other examples of 1990s slowcore. If not for their tendency to lean extra hard into charged dynamics -- unexpectedly loud choruses that followed whispering verses or over-the-top blasts of distortion flying in from out of nowhere -- deathcrash would have come dangerously close to being little more than a slowcore revival act. Their second album, Less, arrives just over a year later and finds the group moving slightly out of the shadow of their influences by embracing their more tortured impulses. Album opener "Pirouette" begins like a post-rock experiment, stumbling around in a flurry of free-form drumming and airy guitar notes for about two minutes before locking into a dreamy rhythm. While there are still clear similarities to bands like Rex, Codeine, the For Carnation, and the like, theres a wistfulness in the bending guitar notes that recalls Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, and a newfound emo element in the distant screaming background vocals. This screamy catharsis repeats on the distorted climax of "Empty Heavy," while the intensity is kept on a sustained simmer by the fuzz-coated bass and tentative intertwined guitar harmonics of the instrumental track "And Now I Am Lit." Where the slowcore bands of the 90s that deathcrash emanates from traded in exhausted sadness, Less feels more tormented. The swings in dynamic intensity, vague but dire lyrics about pain and bleeding, barely stifled screams, and eruptions of distortion all suggest not just generalized malaise but high-drama heartbreak or grief. At times, the emotionally opaque sentiments and slow-to-congeal arrangements give the songs a somewhat unfinished feeling, like the band is circling tentatively around their ideas but not quite able to land on a complete statement. Ultimately, however, this straining quality becomes an integral part of deathcrashs sound on Less, mirroring the unresolved feelings and quietly shattered emotional states that the album is built from. ~ Fred Thomas

Rovi