Music: The Death of a Party: The Rise and Fall of Scarlet City

Our Take

The Death of a Party's debut album may be one of the catchiest art/punk style albums to come out in the last couple of months. Thanks to addictive vocals and guitar riffs along with some well placed keyboard sections, The Rise and Fall of Scarlet City is a release that is very enjoyable to listen to and may result in some foot tapping. In addition to this, The Death of a Party has released what is arguably one of the more accessible art/punk releases, ensuring that even mainstream music listeners should be able to get into this album.

The instrumentals on this album could be described as a combination of more mainstream guitar work (Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse) with some of the more artier and obscure groups (Dmonstrations, The Chinese Stars). Add into this mix some very well placed and melodic keyboards/piano and you have a fine line between artsy and mainstream dance rock that sounds different from many of the other bands currently out there. While some could say that the instrumentals sound slightly dark at times, the overall sound is still very seductive and enticing.

As for the vocals, they fare just as well. Front man Gareth Philip Nicholas has a very commanding voice, which is backed by a couple other members of the band. His singing has a very post-punk feel to it, and fits in with the style of the instrumental arrangements. In addition to this, all of the songs are extremely witty and more complicated thematically than most bands currently out there. I don't want to spoil them, but just listen closely to the songs or read the album booklet.

By combining popular elements of mainstream dance rock with more obscure art/punk, The Death of a Party has created an album that will be able to be appreciated by more than just artsy music goers. The Rise and Fall of Scarlet City has the potential to be one of those albums that will spend more time in your stereo than in the jewel case this year. Give it the opportunity to do so, and don't hesitate to give this album a chance.

http://www.doublenegativerecords.com

Chris Dahlberg
April 25, 2007