Feeling down in the dumps? Need a screamcore metal band to empathize? The Dead Season is at your service on the blistering and self-pitying new album “The Negative NUMBers.”
Each of these tracks is muscular, edgy and dark, as Chris Michaud (bass) and Andy Hackett (drums) drive the raw energy with a rock-solid rhythm section. Ian Truman is an expert yowler but seems less comfortable in his own skin with melody-led cuts like “Anxiety (Tries to Kill Me).”
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The winner here is crowd-shouter “Man’s Game” with its wall-punching, catchy refrain. Boiling over with genuine aggression, the band is dialed into a highly technical arrangement and back to its most trusty lyrical theme — kicking ass — rather than the woe-is-me that dilutes other tunes on the EP.
The set closes with some cheek in the potentially shark-jumping Cutting Crew cover “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight.” It’s a pretty straight read, albeit with chunky power chords and double bass standing in for ’80s schmaltz. After much seriousness and torment, it’s unclear whether this track is delivered with a wink and a smile or not.
The Dead Season, though, unfortunately for Truman’s vocal cords, is at its best when breaking stuff, taking names and not catering to pop sentiment whatsoever.
Mike Olcott is a freelance writer who lives in Portland and Boston.
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