Music: Dick Venom reviews Dead Objectives – Holy War EP

A second to breathe? A moment to prepare? Scrap that. And scrap all those stick clicks and count-ins just Blast It!

Dead Objectives don’t give an inch from the start – it’s all in with slab guitars, thump drums, and rumbling bass without warning. It’s angry, it’s mean it’s good unclean punk and just as you get used to the noise of the noise and the noise of the riff there are spiralling swirls, light dynamics and back. ‘Priest Blessed Bullet’ is 1 minute 54 seconds of Black Flag, Buzzcocks and Off and a fine way to start the ‘Holy War’ EP.

Punk‘s angry, we know that. And Dead Objectives are pissed about something and everything. A very British vitriol gets dealt out in spittle and shout, shot in directions of religious institutions and GCHQ with a healthy dose of general paranoia. It’s all neatly stuffed in. ‘Lab Rat’ continues the cause with a little more rattle than it’s priest blessed predecessor but just as tight packed. There’s even a ska-punk, half pop song but don’t worry… it doesn’t stay light for too long.

The second half of this six track EP picks back up where it started. ‘Human Symptom’ and ‘So Called Democracy’ demonstrate the band’s knack for thick solid slabs of sound soiled with attitude. Then something unexpected. The latter hangs loose after its hit and spittle and in comes twin guitars all layered in delay and new spatial awareness. It’s just a touch slower, stretched out and semi anthemic. More Buzzcocks and Dead Kennedy’s with its cut-buzz guitars and scratch-downkey shifts. It stick out as it should – it’s the single.