The Death of Money were formed in South Wales two decades ago and have been taking audiences, and themselves, on some heavy aural journeys ever since. Their sound stands in the ballpark of doom and sludge metal, albeit with a lightness of touch and the audible influence of post-rock, shoegaze, and ambient music. The duo of Darren Kaskie (guitar, bass, Synth, mellotron and vocals) and Ian Charles (drums) have a new album `Error After Era` released this month.
The album opens with title track `Error After Era` with a vocalised chant like repetition of the title before it continues to be recurringly recited hypnotically over a doom ladened fuzzy background. It quieten downs towards the midsection and becomes spellbindingly instrumental with a kind of incantation before increasing in volume and power with howling harmonies from Bethan Lloyd and “no tomorrow” recited occasionally as this number filters out. Initially, there was a much more straight forward sonically driven instrumental with `Haunt Me` before some unclean growled vocals joined as the number slowed retaining its raw powerful energy.
`Poems` has a fairly measured opening as howled vocals shriek out as the number becomes fairly hypnotic with an underlying harmonic tone throughout before fading out. I felt there was an almost dystopian cinematic ambience to `Living In Fear` which seems to reflect a search for something, possibly existence.
`Wasp Screams` has Bethan Lloyd heading up the vocals on this probing kind of goth-tinged offering with lyrics that are shared in a mystic, mantra like style. The album closes out with `Old Pain` which begins pretty heavily with roared vocals and a powerful beat before almost flatlining for a couple of minutes. It then bursts to life again and becoming fairly mesmerising with some combative riffs shared before ending abruptly.
There was much to enjoy on The Death Of Money`s `Error After Era` which pulls you into it`s many layers and deaths. At times it`s a challenging listen but one that I found entirely worthwhile and I’m sure you will too.
Rating 8/10
