Deathamphetamine - The Lost Album

It's always a huge bummer writing a review of a record by a band that have split up. The music stands a an epitaph to the band and them passing, leaves a void. Deathamphetamine are one such band. This mad-ass crossover/death/grind band formed in 2000 in Boston, MA. They put out several releases, including this tape - The Lost Album, which was their last, through Obscenity Cult Records.

Tracklisting:-

1. 1-1-2-3-5
2. Losing It All
3. Dactyl Nightmare
4. The Black Moment
5. The Immortalist
6. Domestic Human
7. More Sauce for The Goose
8. Stalinizer
9. The Last Man

This is as raw as you though it would be. 1-1-2-3-5 is just a blast of grinding, death metal madness. The guitars sound like whirring chainsaws in the mix, with the high-pitched screams sounding mad! The speed of the drums and those awesome screaming leads, bring thrash into the mix and it's all over in the blink of an eye.

Losing It All has a slightly more traditional song structure to it, but it's equally as rip-roaring. Deathamphetamine slow things down at times here, with very minimal introspective moments before stepping back on the gas and inviting their entire gang in to do gang vocals mid way through. Losing It All ends with a cock-rocking solo!

Deathamphetamine don't believe in giving you time to catch your breath, with their songs each blurring into the next. Dactyl Nightmare is a whirlwind of headache inducing drums and guitar. The Black Moment sees the band start with a more sedate intro, before thrashing out good and proper. The death metal vocals seem to be more evident here, along with some lower, more evil sounding vocals. They combine to blacken the darkness even more! Such is the pace of this album, that by the time The Immortalist kicks off, you're already half way through it. The Immotalist is another savage sub three-minute blast of crossover fury. I've listened to lot of albums this year by thrash/death/grind bands but I still can't find a comparison for Deathamphetamine, which means they were onto something with this tape.

As you'd expect from a tape, the sound is rough and ready, but it really does suit the music. The production does a good job of allowing all the instruments to stand out though. Domestic Human is another death heavy blast and thanks too some cunning pace changes, it seems a lot longer than it's sub three-minute playing time. The guitar work toward then end of the song is something to behold, with the scraping, screeching leads taking over and pricking up your ears. Towards the end of The Lost Album, Deathamphetamine experiment with a couple of longer songs. More Sauce For The Goose starts with some power metal inspired falsetto screams, with guitar solo's to match. Stalinizer follows straight on at the end of the sample that closes More Sauce For The Goose. It sees the band again reaching loftier heights, with plenty of rock n roll influences.

It all ends with The Last Man, which is a mammoth of song purely for the length of time at which the band keep up their relentless pace. It's a pity that Deathamphetamine have called it a day, as the world needs more good-time thrashing/grinding fun. There's plenty of over the top but awesome musicianship on this album and there is plenty to like. Pick up a copy if you can!

Along with the rest of their recorded output, The Lost Album is streaming over at Deathamphetamine's bandcamp page below:-

You can pick up the cassette from Obscenity Cult Records at http://obscenitycultrecords.bigcartel.com.
Deathamphetamine can be found at both  http://www.deathamphetamine.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/DEATHAMPHETAMINE.