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Dead Neanderthals Takes You On a "Hate Trip"


A lot can happen in 11 seconds, and, in the case of New Wave of Dutch Heavy Jazz duo Dead Neanderthals, it would appear that worlds can crumble in such a short period of time. Though their previous release Blood Rite‘s synthesizer-forward death/doom metal tested the limits of slowness and musical weight, upcoming 7″ Rat Licker condenses as many notes and sounds as humanly possible into 12 exceedingly short “free jazz grind” tracks.

“Hate Trip,” the shortest song on the EP which is also streaming exclusively ahead of release below, is Rat Licker‘s most intense moment, showing saxophonist Otto Kokke laying back… sort of. Hitting an intensely high “false note” (read as: a tongued harmonic on a reed instrument, but I swear he might be biting the reed, here), Kokke holds this note for the song’s entirety, making way for drummer Rene Aquarius’ tumultuous, rolling, blasting drums. Echoes of a certain jazz master’s experiments with metal and grind come to mind, but taken to a much further level, and I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up my own mental image of the sorely missing Yamataka Eye bursting onstage with Kokke and Aquarius, shrieking right alongside the horrific saxophone and drum discord. Of course, Eye not being on this recording doesn’t take away from it, and the New Wave of Dutch Heavy Jazz moves on just fine without any vocals, really.

Rat Licker is a difficult recording, and our readers who don’t already like jazz might want to move on, but if you’re willing to step into a cartoonish world of electrified sound, look no further.

Rat Licker will be released by Utech Records on April 2nd.