Grave Pleasures – “Dreamcrash” [Album Review]

Forming from the remains of Scandanvian hipster favourites Beastmilk and fellow Swedes The Oath, Dreamcrash is the first offering from goth-punk outfit Grave Pleasures and reminds me of the sounds that filled the dancefloors of the underground goth clubs I used to frequent in the late ’90s.

More goth than punk though, Dreamcrash is, for the best part, a haunting, dramatic, melancholic collection albeit in the case of tracks like “New Hip Moon,” a collection with an uptempo pulse beating through it. Far removed from both Beastmilk and The Oath, Grave Pleasures are I guess what the kids would called “post-punk” these days.

This amalgamation of Joy Division-inspired goth rock with Mat McNerney’s post-apocalypse lyrics creates tracks like “Futureshock” and “Taste The Void” where the Scandivanians distance themselves even further from previous works. Tackling a subject matter of deeply personal interest, McNerney is the kind of frontman who clearly pours his entire existence into his art, bringing his words to life with a powerful, haunting performance married perfectly with the Joy Division/goth rock-inspired modern soundscape created by the rest of his band.

Whereas everybody loved Beastmilk once the press deemed them to be “pretty cool,” it’s hard to see where Grave Pleasures fit in. They’re very much not a hipster band but will they sit comfortably with the metal kids or the indie kids or the goths? It’s hard to tell but, if you’re more of an open-minded music fan or, like me, fancy a trip back to a youth spent frequenting dodgy goth clubs, Dreamcrash will provide a dark, dramatic soundtrack.

Track Listing:

01. Utopian Scream
02. New Hip Moon
03. Crying Wolves
04. Futureshock
05. Crisis
06. Worn Threads
07. Taste The Void
08. Lipstick on your Tombstone
09. Girl in a Vortex
10. Crooked Vein
11. No Survival

Run Time: 43:47
Release Date: October 2, 2015

Check out the song “New Hip Moon” here.