Review by Daniel for Deathless - Anhedonia (1992)

Sydney industrial metal duo Deathless are an act that I've had on my radar for many years but had never gotten around to exploring until now. My main reason for wanting to check them out is fairly simple really. I used to frequent legendary Sydney metal store Utopia Records for many years & one of the two band members Damian Bennett (16-17/Khost) used to work there so I came into contact with him on a regular basis. I'm not sure why I didn't commit to exploring Damian's band at the time but I certainly always intended to. Perhaps it's just the fact that you don't see Deathless' name floating around all that much that caused the extreme delay as I can't say that I was regularly reminded of my omission. The other thing that's intriguing about Deathless though is that they don't have a guitarist in their lineup with the band being comprised of just two bass guitarists (both of who handle the vocal duties at various stages) & a drum machine which is a rare but interesting configuration. Those sort of setups can go one of two ways & I wasn't too sure which direction I'd see Deathless going so this month seemed like a good opportunity to finally answer that age-old question.

Deathless is the brain-child of Bennett & close friend David Quinn of Adelaide noise rock band King Snake Roost. The duo may have first started in Sydney, Australia but Deathless has become somewhat of an international act given that they spent some time in England & are now based in Switzerland. It would be on one of those trips to the UK that Deathless would record their debut album "Anhedonia" which was put to tape in collaboration with co-producer Lee Rumble at Von's Studio in London in July 1992. Rumble wasn't anyone special in terms of metal at the time but the resulting production job is serviceable enough for an early industrial metal act. There's no doubt that the lack of any sort of melodic instrumental component can be fairly grating upon first listen though & I have to admit that I found the album to feel a little flat early on. Industrial metal can be quite cold at the best of times but Deathless take that to a fairly extreme level given the obvious lack of any brightness or melody in their sound to give you some light at the end of the tunnel. Subsequent listens saw me becoming used to the sound of the album though & I'm pleased to say that it opened up progressively more with each revisit.

"Anhedonia" is quite a lengthy release for a debut with the nine tracks running for a fairly substantial 52 minutes. All of those tracks are given ample time to get their message across & there are a couple of examples where two songs run into each other which makes the tracklisting a little difficult to follow, particularly given that the listing on the back of the album isn't reflective of the actual CD track numbers. I managed to figure it out after a couple of listens but it was initially a bit confusing. The record is book-ended by two pieces ("God in the Political Asylum" & "In Heaven") that sit further into the traditional industrial or post-industrial space & I really enjoy both of those inclusions as they have a dark & brooding atmosphere that I totally dig which leaves them sitting as two of the three highlights for me. The other is the excellent industrial rock/metal hybrid piece "In Unmet Chambers Slain I" which snuck up on me over time after initially being one of those that went over my head due to its inherent coldness. There are admittedly a couple of songs that didn't enjoy the same privilege & remained fairly inaccessible for me throughout the whole exercise though with "Sun Turns Through Ash" & "Under the Wood" being a bit of a struggle but generally I found the album to be pretty enjoyable & there was some additional interest added for me in the inclusion of a cover version of Trouble's wonderful "Victim of the Insane" from the American doom metal masters' classic self-titled debut album from 1984, a piece that I regard as being one of my favourite doom tracks of all time.

While I definitely got more into "Anhedonia" more with each listen, I did eventually find that its appeal was capped a bit by the lack of any real melodic hooks. Unlike English industrial metal godfathers Godflesh (who would seem to be the most obvious source of inspiration for Deathless), these Aussies don't even have higher register feedback or noise at their disposal so everything can sound a little bleak (which is perhaps the point thinking about it now). The two bass guitars are used in an interesting way & don't tend to get each other's road while the drum machine sounds completely artificial which I'd imagine was always the intent. Neither of the two band members sport much in the way of vocal talent but then when has that ever stopped an industrial metal artist from having a crack (see the afore-mentioned Godlfesh for a prime example)? The incorporation of a doomier sound during the back end of the tracklisting was interesting but had mixed results with the Trouble cover version working nicely & the previously-mentioned "Under the Wood" falling flat. The rockier moments that appear through the middle of the album suffer from the same sort of inconsistency with "Sun Turns Through Ash" failing to meet the same heights of "In Unmet Chambers Slain I".

Look, there's no doubt that "Anhedonia" won't be for everyone & if you're one of those people that's too impatient to give a record a few spins before casting judgement then I'd hazard to suggest that this won't be your sort of album but I have to admit that do kinda dig it, perhaps not enough to see me returning to it in the future though. I may let my interest get the better of me & see what Deathless' later releases with Godlfesh's Justin Broadrick sound like at some point as he's always been an amazingly captivating & consistent producer but, until then, I'll have to be satisfied with my experiences with "Anhedonia" which is probably Australia's first genuine industrial metal release.

For fans of Godflesh, Bloodstar & Pitchshifter.