CD, Line Out Records, 2006
www.deathboy.co.uk
Deathboy: a band who have managed to use the internet to get their music out to the world to some success and who are well known for giving out lots of free music on their website and building quite a fanbase, in the UK at the very least. They can only be best described as the angst ridden bastard son of Pop Will Eat Itself and Gary Numan, and that can’t be a bad thing, right? They’ve built a reputation on loud, abrasive industrial shows and have supported a few well known acts including Panic DHH, Killing Miranda, Katscan, This Morn’ Omina and Rico, who, alongside John Fryer, has produced “End of an Error”.
“End of an Error” includes some already well known tracks to those who have seen Deathboy live, and starting with a live favourite, “Amphetamine Zoo” is a great place to begin, the production on this track being is cleaner and crisper than previous versions found on the internet; “Cheap Shot” has also been given the new production sound too, but I think it takes away the abrasive, nasty sounding quality both tracks once had. “Money and Confidence” shows Scott Deathboy with much stronger vocals than previous material, he finally sounds much more comfortable as a vocalist and he has definitely improved with time. “Slip” is a dark trip into relationship problems which feels slightly unnerving, but “Smile You Fuckers” picks it up again with some bouncy, antagonistic, goth-baiting that only Deathboy can possibly get away with. Other tracks worth mentioning include “Lullabye” where some excellent Drum’n’Bass breaks appear rather unexpectedly and “Angel on My Shoulder” which is just beautiful, if such a word can be used to describe anything Deathboy have created, with interesting beat structures featuring vocals by the whole band as well as Scott, actually singing.
In all the material on this album shows a new found maturity in Deathboy. They seem to be a much more confident unit and, if this is the direction they’re going to continue in, then this can only be a good thing. The only let down here is the production. Yes it’s all very clever and adds new elements to the Deathboy sound, but it makes it too clean, and far too safe sounding. Deathboy are angsty, dark and gritty, but the sound is too polished to get that over to the listener. I recommend the Deathboy live sound, but if you’re new to them then this isn’t a bad CD at all.
[7/10]
— Kate Turgoose