Greece is supposedly known for its post-punk scene. This feels more like indie rock from the late 80s, like a juncture where Sonic Youth is meeting the Butthole Surfers. It's moody, but meanders amid feedback and atmosphere with out a ton of drive. The 2nd song has a thicker coating of noise and is harder to really dig into. It a little rawer than what typically works for me, "Degeneration Vacuum" glides with the garage punk shuffle that Sonic Youth used to engage in during the Goo and Dirty years. When things so into a darker groove around the three and a half minute mark I think the band is in the direction they need to venture further into.
There is a clanging of noise surrounding "I'll Be Johnny Castle You be the Cancer". Things thankfully find a darker groove after the ambient noise intro to "I see you stalking me". The pounding drone of "Fraternity" is one of those cool riffs alone do not make a good song moments. There is a more sleepy form of indie rock on "Breathtaker" , though this is woken up with punches midway into the song, I like this as it reminds me a little of Swans when they come pounding at you. There is similar feel with "I Used a Knife...". This one is a little more off the rails in terms of the waves of feed back and distortion that come rolling in on you.
The album closes out with the more relaxed and almost jazz influenced "Damnation Brochure". These guys might have Sonic Youth influence, but are doing their own thing and have a lot of potential, I think if some of the noise was trimmed back to let these songs be songs and the whispered vocals were more sung it would be an album that holds greater appeal for me personally. There are some dark and moody moments, but I am not sure why the death rock tag is being thrown around as there is nothing death rock about this album. I'll give it a 7.5 .
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