I said DEglover, not D. Glover, idiot!
Here at n0teeth HQ (read: a dank, asbestos-riddled, black mould-infested caravan propped up on bricks on a patch of waste ground behind the Mr Internet offices in Canary Wharf) we're always happy to give new artists punting their wares on forums or social media a go. The possibility of discovering the next hot piece of action in industrial and industrial-adjacent music before anybody else and therefore having the right to be completely insufferable arseholes about it when they get big, telling anyone within earshot at their show that we were on board since day dot, is well worth the (not insignificant) risk that the band in question might be utter piffle and we'll never get those minutes of our life back.
So imagine our delight when Deglover made themselves known over on Reddit a few weeks ago, announcing the release of their self-titled debut EP (mini-album?) and instantly getting us hooked on this top flight aggro-industrial gear. An apparently brand new artist we'd never heard of before? Hitting that undefinable sweet spot between electro-industrial and Numb-style North American coldwave? Sign us up for a de-gloving, baby!
A Prayer Before We Begin kicks off proceedings with ominous synth sounds forming like storm clouds. They hang there for a couple of minutes before a sinister robotic voice welcomes us to "a plain where morality is slain". The android sermon eventually dissolves into guitar screech which segues into the title track, where a different (and slightly more Kraftwerky) robotic voice chants the band/album/track name, leaving a perfectly timed pause around the half minute mark before Deglover really gets the wrecking ball rolling with a thundering, almost martial barrage of programmed drums.
As a brief aside, can I just say how much I appreciate intro tracks with a lil bit more thought put into the title and the concept than just slapping "Intro" on 20 seconds of meaningless studio chatter and calling it a day? Just as Forward Strategy Group's Ident recalls an old Thames TV ident, "A Prayer Before..." is actually a great description of what the track actually sounds like.
Back to them DRUMS. The production is decidedly lo-fi, but razor-sharp in all the right places. There's a real rawness to these beats that again reminds me how (North American) coldwave came to be a subgenre in its own right, separate from industrial rock or electro-industrial. But just as we think we've got the measure of this tune the unmistakeable wobble of a TB303 comes in, adding another layer of abrasive texture to the synth & guitar feedback, pummelling drums and growling vocals.
The Driver shows us something oddly magical and sparkling in its synths while its drum tracks are somehow even angrier than on the song before. If I'm not mistaken a bass guitar joins the fray for this one - something low and heavy is rumbling away in there at any rate.
The twinkling synth magic continues with The Kennel, a hard trance inflected belter that I instantly filed under "aggrotech, if aggrotech was good".
Car Battery parts 1 & 2 showcase Deglover's melodic side and give the second half of this release a sweeping, epic feel, like a full length concept album cleverly disguised in the form of a short and sweet 36 minute long EP.
Before we know it, we're onto the final track. "Speak In Tongues" flips the script once more with a dizzying lurch down a frantic acid breakbeat techno quasi-metal rabbit hole the likes of which Scaler have repeatedly tried to warn us might be about to open up but we were too busy grooving to notice. The coupling of a filthy grinding bass riff with drilling amen breaks calls to mind www.pitchshifter.com if it retained the Godflesh-y heft of the Nottingham boys' earlier albums without losing any forward momentum. By the time the 3 mins and 50-odd seconds were up, my head was spinning and I needed to sit down. And then immediately wanted to listen to 'Speaking In Tongues' a couple more times again.
There is so much chaos and violence and insanity going on in these seven tracks alone that n0teeth can't even begin to imagine where Deglover will go from here. Hopefully we can hitch a ride, wherever it is.