Aztec Death Consequence EP Set To Release Friday August 9th
By David Fletcher
It has been over two-and-a-half years since we got anything besides a couple new singles from Aztec Death, but out August 9th we finally get the long awaited EP Consequence from the brothers Christopher and Michael Ortega.
With five tracks of post-punk power, Aztec Death has sped up their approach with their new EP, making for a sound that is every bit as dark as their first album Machine but with just a bit more danceability than mere shoegazing.
Starting with an intense emotional indictment on the opening track “Eric,” the band establishes their place in line with the musical lineage that begins with Joy Division, passes through Interpol and continues evolving to this day.
The song’s lyrical intensity is matched by the its breakneck drums, thumping bass line and enticing guitars as Christopher Ortega castigates his subject, “You leave me beat to my measure, to my pleasure, and why don’t you take off that smile when you scoff.”
The EP’s second track “Exclusive” gets the vocal assist from none other than fellow Dallas darkwaver Leah Lane of Rosegarden Funeral Party whose deep alluring voice pairs perfectly with Ortega’s brooding baritone.
Though Lane may be taking the lead on vocals for “Exclusive,” the music is unmistakably Aztec Death with its heavy bass and thundering drums.
“Climax,” the EP’s central tack and first single, begins in a bass driven sludge that is lifted up by gothic synths, giving the song an atmosphere of a haunted house in a 50s B-movie horror film – a feeling compounded by the overlapping vocals mesmerizing the audience in the song’s final seconds.
The haunting of your speakers is doubled-down on in the penultimate track “Loretta,” with Ortega inviting listeners to follow the bass line and “Wander the halls” were “you cannot recall your father.”
Consequence ends with a nine-minute epic “10,” which takes listeners through a slow journey of loss, pills to help one cope and a head filled with voices you just can’t seem to block out.
An introspective rollercoaster of a song, “10” spends more time letting the music do the soul work than the lyrics, beginning in a state of manic confusion accented by a slow guitar dueling with a frantic bass and ending with a dying tempo that slowly fades into crashing cymbals and unsettling silence.
With the Consequence EP, Aztec Death has proven that there is real merit in taking real time off between releases. What they have given us is a true testament of the band’s ability to adapt, develop and surpass expectations.
