deathcrash

London slowcore 4 piece deathcrash are releasing their debut album, ‘Return’, which will arrive on 28 January via untitled (recs). Ahead of this hotly anticipated release, the band are sharing the final single to be lifted from their debut album in the shape of ‘Doomcrash’, a brooding song that explodes into one of the heaviest moments on the album and clocks in at just under 9 minutes.

Bassist Patrick Fitzgerald says of the song “This all started with a really over-the-top doom riff I would play on the bass in rehearsal sometimes, with an absurd amount of distortion. We all loved it but whenever we tried to take it anywhere it lost its magic. Tiernan, as he often does, got very obsessed with the ‘idea’ of this doom riff, and became determined to make it into something. None of us liked what Tiernan was doing and it got to the point where I refused to even play the riff. I don’t know how it actually unfolded but i remember when we were in this awful rehearsal room filled with soft rock memorabilia, me and Tiernan were sitting on the sofa and he showed me a new riff he’d made, based around the chords from the dreaded doom riff. I was back on board. Immediately I started writing the most post-rock bass riff I could think of, unplugged, there on the sofa. We recorded it on a phone. That’s why I love deathcrash, because one of us can always see something that the others can’t, and then it clicks.”

‘Doomcrash’ follows on from their starkly beautiful lead single ‘Horses’, a concise and hopeful song showcasing a new side to the band, and ‘Unwind’, on which deathcrash returned to their driving, distorted roots. 

For their debut album, ‘Return’, deathcrash approached the task of compiling the songs together as music lovers from two-years-worth of fragmented songwriting. The 12 songs that make up ‘Return’ may differ from each other in certain ways, but they manage to conjure similar feelings, capturing many of the difficult moments of the last couple years in the band members’ personal lives, and emerging as a beautiful and hopeful message.

deathcrash recorded ‘Return’ with their close friend and producer Ric James, who they’ve worked with since their early recordings. The album was recorded live, with an emphasis on dynamics, bringing together tense intimacy with atmospheric vastness.

As ‘Return’ took form, deathcrash got back in touch with a newer, more open feeling; sharing words, riffs and ideas fully collaboratively for the first time. Something good returned that had previously been lost, and this is captured on the album, one that whilst it was born from a dark place becomes as much about hope and renewal.

deathcrash formed in 2019 and have carved out their own space on the London music scene with their unique, slow building but melodic post-rock. Their previous two EPs, 2019’s ‘Sundown (A Collection of Home Recordings)’ and last year’s ‘People thought my windows were stars’ have brought a devoted audience - their second EP sold out of vinyl within 24 hours.

deathcrash are Tiernan Banks (Vocals and Guitar), Patrick Fitzgerald (Bass), Matthew Weinberger (Guitar), Noah Bennett (Drums).