Death of Youth, are, according to various one line descriptors, an “emo influenced hardcore” band from South East London. Nothing is the Same Anymore is their debut full length, and follows a couple of EPs, which were more recently repackaged as a 9 track compilation CD. They are an entirely new band to me, and I’ve not received any press info, and there appears to be no entry for them on Discogs, so at this time I have no way of determining if any of them have been in any other bands. Let’s assume they probably have, though. Suffice to say I’ve had a fair attempt at researching them without especially over-exerting myself.
From the snippets of chatter and so on and so forth that I’ve picked up on, I’m seeing names like Defeater, Pianos Become the Teeth and Touche Amore being chucked about, which is immediately putting my gag reflex to the test. Yes, quite the selection of “creative” non-entities that have for some inexplicable reason enjoyed a measure of success. Not to be detered by mentions of such one-dimensional pre-packaged yawn-fest material, I thought I’d see what Death of Youth are actually like.
I’ve given the Nothing is the Same Anymore LP a few spins now, and I’m put in mind of having the misfortune to DJ at Jilly’s Rockworld and Satan’s Hollow in Manchester for a far longer period of years than I realistically ought to have done (1998 – 2008). Yeah, I totally get it. Trends come and go; sub-genres have their moments in the sun, before seemingly disipating like a weak fart in an empty football stadium. Yeah, the 2000’s were inundated with crappy quick cash-grab bands marketed by cynically feckless record labels like Victory Records and Drive Thru Records, all of which spun out of a boom in American style pop punk, emo and skate punk bands. And it was awful. The people that were into it were only around because it was the latest thing, and there was a whole mini-generation of loudmouthed blowhards, who were more often than not the exact type of person that would have been bullying me at school a few years before. Obviously I did my best to be polite, but there’s only so much testosterone fuelled baboonery and a-typical callowness I could withstand before I became unwilling to be around these often intolerable people anymore.
Back to the idea of baboonery before I doubtless sidetrack myself with another stream of valid complaints. So there was this kind of “sub-scene” of people that absolutely loved whatever crap generic term you want to use to describe that style of music where commercialised interpretations of emo (as doled out by the bucketload on MTV2 and the like) merged into hideous metalcore. Black dyed fringes, Volcom tees, New Era baseball caps and a pair of shitstoppers, all capped off with “paid for by mum” sleeves of tattoos being the uniform de jour. Seasoned to taste of course, with dancefloor violence and knuckle-dragging misogyny.
I think if Death of Youth had been around 15 – 20 years ago, they would have no doubt enjoyed an amount of popularity amongst fans of Thrice, Alexisonfire, and Poison the Well etc. Maybe you are the kind of person that lives for overly trebly generic hardcore that sounds like the Comeback Kid without gang vocals mixed with that awful song by Remembering Never (I want to say it’s called Big Jim’s Mistake or something? I dunno, it’s fucking rubbish) – if so, don’t worry, Death of Youth have got you, mate.
Look, I can’t fault where some of these lyrics are coming from: safe spaces for people with protected characteristics are important; speaking out against bigotry and fascism are important issues, not even just in the current climate. I get it. I support these type of messages and hope they get heard. They absolutely are messages which need to be continually broadcast. As any correct-minded individual can attest, it’s a fucking pity that these types of things bear constant repeating and reiteration. It’s a worthy and worthwhile thing to do, and I can get behind it 100%.
From a listening standpoint, although there’s nothing realistically wrong with this, it does pretty much nothing for me, beyond bringing back unwelcome memories of people I saw several times a week acting like pillocks and scrapping with students in a shit nightclub. I want to feel uplifted and invigorated, but instead I feel bored and slightly depressed. However, I’m one person, and this is my opinion. I would urge you to formulate your own; you can listen on the player below.
Tony of Nurgle rating: 4/10
You can pick this up in the UK on orange mix vinyl from Engineer Records and Sell the Heart Records in the US
