YEARS OF DENIAL Vinilo y CD

Review: Years Of Denial is back on Veyl with their second LP, Suicide Disco Vol. 2, the follow up to 2019's Suicide Disco. Here the duo make a triumphant return, raising their sound to the plural heights of darkwave, goth, new beat, post-punk, EBM and techno. Opening with the prudent breaks charge 'Art Break' - on which the gothic black tears on the front cover collide imagistically with muddy bass whooshes and gated power-keg snares, and a sinisterly driven vocal line from Barkosina - we soon move into a pummelling dozen tracks. These draw cues from hard techno to dark synth, embracing and going to the ends of a hedonistic, paradoxical pursuit of pain. The record's algolagnia betrays itself more and more and more, with 'Death Of A Lover' and 'Regarding The Pain Of Others' taking an almost ritual approach to sonic blood sacrifice, as though it were an unconsciously fundamental fact of life. We're equally impressed by the less techno-ey moments on the record too, such as 'Mr. Guilllotine', a sonic gigantomachy of new-wave drum collisions and batlike animorphic howls.