Deathconsciousness

The worlds of black metal and indie rock are pretty much diametrically opposed, so I'm sure you'll be as surprised as I am to find that Have A Nice Life's debut comes from the members of black metal experimentalists Nahlvahr. Have A Nice Life play dark, brooding indie rock with more than a whiff of Joy Division about it. There's also something of a shoegaze aura around it, and while it's no Alcest, the band's roots in black metal come through in the unusually icy guitar tone and sombre melodies. Just give curiously-titled intro track A Quick One Before The Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut a listen, the subdued keyboards and oddly haunting out of tune guitar making it sound like the intro to some nightmarish avant-garde black metal album. But first track Bloodhail kicks in, and it turns out that's not quite the case. It's all bleak, anti-funk basslines and distorted drums, and anyone with more than a mild aversion to Pitchfork-beloved hipster fare will have probably sprained their wrists diving for the stop button already. Still, the rest of us will find a rather charming track with dreamy, ethereal vocal harmonies, and even some black metal riffing towards the end to please the more grim and frostbitten among us. The black metal riffing is used throughout the album, though in this context it feels more like a glorious wash of sound than an ear-raping blizzard. OK, so we've ascertained that Have A Nice Life are not your average indie rockers. But then, what indie rock band starts out their career with a 90-minute double album with lyrics partly based on medieval French apostates? Deathconsciousness is certainly an impressively epic release, and so it's fitting that the music goes off in several different directions. Over the two discs, we get unremittingly grim post-punk (Hunter) cooler-than-thou indie rock (Waiting For Black Metal Records To Come In The Mail, The Future) slightly incongruous noise-pop (Holy Fucking Shit: 40000) and even something approaching post-rock (closer Earthmover). Despite the tonal shifts throughout, the record feels oddly unified, perhaps due to the same grimy, distorted guitar and detatched vocals throughout. So even when Have A Nice Life are at their sunniest, it never seems like a completely different band's hijacked the recording studio. It would be nice to see things spread out a little better though, the first disc generally being one long, dark slog while the livelier fare is bunched together at the beginning of the first disc. So despite being a bit too long (it's just too heavy going, and even the most mopey among you will be hard pushed to make it to the end in one sitting), despite having the odd head-scratching keyboard flourish (the middle eastern bits on Who Would Leave Their Son Out In The Sun and the chirpy pop tones on Holy Fucking Shit: 40000 always strike me as a bit baffling) and despite having a band name that is quite frankly, utter rubbish, Have A Nice Life have something about them that keeps me listening. And, truth be told, I have no idea what it is. That's no way intended as a slight against the album, mind, as considering it's a debut, and considering it's one of the most ambitious debuts of recent times this really is impressive stuff. There is room for improvement, of course, as at times the record meanders about in near-ambient territory without denting the heads of its audience. Still, Have A Nice Life are onto a winner, and let's hope on album number two they can pull out the masterpiece that I think they're capable of.