Dermabrasion: Pain behavior
(Via Hand drawn by Dracula)
DL | CD | Cassette
Out in the suburbs of Toronto is a beast about to be unleashed upon the world in the form of Dermabrasion’s first full length album, Pain Behaviour. And if you have a penchant for the riveting power and rapturous sensuality of early ’80s dark wave and gothic rock that oozes from this band’s core, then there’s a good chance this album will find a way to infiltrate your each of your fabrics. being. Read if you dare………
In the relative calm that seems to follow the Christmas storms, I already have a sense of some new beginnings as the new year slowly begins to take hold of us all. And that’s certainly true of the Toronto-based duo known as Dermabrasion, releasing their debut full-length album, Pain Behavior to a largely unsuspecting and unprepared world. Louder Than War has already sampled the heavy post punk sounds of the single Goblin Dance, but now it seems that the time has finally come for the monster to be fully unleashed.
Dermabrasion consists of Adam Bernhardt and Kat McGouran who began writing and performing together in 2015 with Toronto punk band WLMRT. They eventually emerged with a demo EP, Lunate, in 2021, which had all the hallmarks of a lo-fi version of the early Sisters Of Mercy. But one listen of this EP in no way gave a hint of what was to come as they further developed their craft in the dark and sweaty clubs of their hometown. But that all changed when they released a batch of singles and their new more sinister path became much clearer as their debut album emerged from the dark shadows.
Pain Behavior features all five songs from the Lunate EP, though you’d hardly recognize any of them given the shifting soundscape that has engulfed their sound in a cacophony of heavy post-punk industrial sounds. This is largely due to the input of producer Josh Korody, whose experience with electronic music has undoubtedly gilded their new sound with a menacing edge that the band calls ‘death rock’n’roll’. Wrap all this with a fascination with the physical form and the occult that runs through the album and songs that explore shame, power, duty and inhabiting a human body and you end up with a heady and intoxicating mix that inevitably pushes you on the edge of the universal language that is music.
Focusing initially on the five new songs included on the album, it opens with Halberdier’s thunderous roar that starts like a huge baton trying to break down your front door before an incendiary guitar kicks in and then a monumental bassline drives it forward. . And with elemental and sensual Siouxsie-like vocals fueling the dark beat, this is a song I’m already categorizing as a timeless classic that will span generations to come. If you have any doubts until the Halberdier closes, then you are definitely in the wrong place right now and maybe even on the wrong planet.
Both Grim Sister and Psychic Event immediately hit a relentless and hypnotic beat that would stand proud on any Sisters Of Mercy album, while permeated by the haunting spirit of Xmal Deutschland and the angular guitar attack of PiL. Betrayer Moon is another new song whose frenetic and angular beats will bring out your best dance moves and is guaranteed to create a frenzy in the mosh pits. Meanwhile, Blight delivers a shape-shifting sonic explosion fueled by Devo’s experimental art punk while still venturing on the dark side.
Shifting the focus back to the stunning five-song revival from their previous Lunate EP, Goblin Dance open with a thunderous bass line and visceral guitar rhythms. Kat’s deep-toned Siouxsie vocals then guide us through a cacophony of menacing noise and displeasure as the song reaches a virtual epiphany mid-song before returning to a journey of hulking unease. There really is no letting up on the powerful force that permeates the grooves of this album.
Proving Ground ignites with a frenzied beat that grows into a unique force of nature in its own right as it extorts the willfully disjointed punk influence of The Slits. Magic Missile enters anthemic territory as it sits triumphantly at the center of this monumental work. Kat’s Siouxsie-style screeching oversees an exaggerated cultural palate of drums, bass and raging guitars that work in perfect harmony to create yet another dissonant and menacing soundscape.
Sleepless provides a more sonic attempt to get the train back on track while taking us through the fallout from a clash between the Buzzcocks and Motorhead. In The Time Of Queens is a three-minute outpouring of all the gothic imagery that proved so sensational in the early 80s, albeit now with a 21st century pulse.
Pain Behavior is an album that features some of the most provocative and innovative soundscapes to emerge from the post punk movement of the late 70s and the dark wave explosion of the early 80s, from the raw sensuality of Banshees and Xmal Deutschland, the relentless gothic rhythms of Sisters of Mercy, the angular guitars of Pil and even the wild punk exuberance of The Slits.
As well as absorbing a volatile melting pot of classical influences, Dermabrasion’s debut album represents a powerful statement of intent for the future. It has a sound that wraps around a heavy post-punk industrial mass of noise and distortion and a haunting and menacing edge as it soars above primitive darkwave beats. An early contender for my album of the year.
You can pre-order the album here.
You can find Dermabrasion at Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify and theirs Website.
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All words by Ian Corbridge. You can find more of his writing on the author profile.
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