To make things simple I’ll just start out by saying that
The White House has got to be one of the most warped, twisted, and narcotic albums that I have ever listened to. Hailing from Southern New Zealand The Dead C are no strangers to “noise rock” as they’ve been making material since they formed in back 1986. With just two electric guitars, a laptop, and an old set of drums
The White House sounds like noise-rock made by the devil. Eerie soundscapes, thundering guitar sounds, and ear-piercing cymbals all combine to generate one confusing yet hypnotic sound.
The album opens with “
Voodoo Spell”, a brief introduction that successfully sucks the listener into the psychotic atmosphere of the album. Musically it just consists of eerie guitar feedback and layers of minimal effects, while it’s a simple song instrumentally the track is still able to put the listener in a trance. The introduction is not misleading, clocking in at twelve minutes “
The New Snow” is an extremely mesmerizing piece as it’s filled with textures of droning guitars, harsh reverb, and more doom-laden guitar sounds. The Dead C thrive when it comes to long drone rock inspired pieces as they are able to capture the attention of a listener and keep it as they are able to create haunting sounds with violent guitar effects.
Although most of
The White House is considered noise or drone rock
”Your Hand” is an angular break from the chaotic noise. Bruce Russells distorted voice calmly sings under raw, scratchy guitar lines and choppy drums. While most of the songs are mid-tempo
”Your Hand” is extremely slow paced and plodding. The aspect that Makes
The White House so great is how it’s so raw and hard hitting it is while remaining captivating and unique.
”Outside”, the albums magnum opus starts off gloomy and surprisingly calm. Slowly the music builds up into a hard hitting, almost thrash-esque song as Bruce Russell and co. relentlessly jam out on their electric guitars creating the most violent, chaotic, and harsh sounds that I’ve ever witnessed.
In the end
The White House is one of the loudest, strangest, and relentless albums that I have ever heard. It’s definitely a hit-or-miss type of album as most people wouldn’t enjoy the detuned guitar sounds or the ***ed up, spooky, psychedelic sounds of the music. With it’s raw and lo-fi production
The White House is a difficult listen however those of you who are interested in strange “drone/noise rock” can’t go wrong with The Dead C.
