The Deadly Phantoms in the Frequencies

Have you ever seen those older horror-flick movie posters from the 50's You know what I'm talking about, the ones with the terrible color printing and everyone screaming on the front Well, this is exactly what the cover of The Deadly's new EP looks like. Seriously, this thing would even make Vincent Price blush. Of course, the only reason I mention any of this is because all this throwback nostalgia stuff definitely sets the tone and mood for this album, and that tone is "rock that doesn't stop," at least not until album is done playing, anyway. In fact, The Deadly have been bluntly described as "PA danger rock." Now, I'm not sure what the hell that actually means, but I do know that I like it, whatever it is. Phantoms in the Frequencies begins with "Hairlip Kiss," an almost spooky punk-rock ballad complete with plenty of "ow's," "yeah's," and "baby, honey" filler material. Furthermore, frontman Rich Lippold employs the use of slight vocal distortion throughout the entirety of the record, which actually accentuates his desperate singing style instead of making the album sound like a botched Converge album, thankfully. "Je Regrette" is a fun, short, raging sound-explosion that reminds me of The Nerve Agents at their best. Plus, French is sexy, and sexy lyrics are all you need sometimes. The last two tracks, "Nevada Audio" and "The Notion's Lit" keep things moving until the end, with more Allen Ginsberg/beat poetry lyrical content, powerful, three-chord destruction, and endless snare pummeling. I think my only complaint is that the song titles could have been a little cooler. Perhaps they could have used old movie titles like "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" or "Creature From The Black Lagoon." Or perhaps I could focus more on the music when I write reviews and not on pointless aesthetic details. But hey, you would care about this kinda stuff too if you were into the whole Boris Karloff/sci-fi nerd crap, am I right Production wise, this album is pretty clean, although the bass is way too low on every track, and the guitars have a tendency to overpower everything else, which isn't all that bad. It just takes away from that special Feng Shui balance that is essential to achieve maximum musical balance. I also must mention that Hawthorne Street Records is doing an excellent job keeping their roster unique and diversified. All too often, labels get pinned down from the start by releasing only certain genres, but this isn't the case so far with these guys. And with the addition of The Deadly, I'd say it's nigh impossible to pin down HSR at this point. Bottom Line: If punk rock ever existed in the 50's, The Deadly would probably be the poster-boys for that era. Quite honesty, this is really catchy stuff, though I would expect many people to tire of it prematurely do to it's short length (11 mins.) and its repetitive sound. Regardless, I would suggest at least checking out these guys simply because they do have a pretty original sound, and it's just nice to hear some fast, hardcore punk that has just a slight "artsy" twinge to it. I would say they sound like a weird, mutant/hybrid cross between the Nerve Agents and TSOL. And to end, I shall quote from a little poem that was present in the liner notes which sums up the band quite nicely: "Can you even begin to take it What will you do when you listen to us sweat You will join us in the man dance extravaganza, until the ceiling kisses the floor. Come my sweaty babies, we are all shiny animals. We are the deadly."