Who can remember all the projects, side projects, musical genres and bands that Mat McNerney has been and is involved with? Not me. A bit of research was necessary to freshen up the memory. And there is quite a lot of material to go through. It looks like the man doesn’t sleep. No wonder his outlook on life seems rather dark. Who knows, maybe we will even hear some happy tunes from him after a phase of sufficient shut-eye.
McNerney has contributed to/been a member of a wide spectrum of bands ranging from Dødheimsgard and Virus to Hexvessel and Germans Rope Sect. Some were/are long-term involvements, some meant singing guest vocals on a couple of tracks. Grave Pleasures has been one of the constants and it is this band’s new long player Plagueboys that we concern ourselves with today. The rest of McNerney’s engagements will have to wait to be mentioned during another opportunity which will no doubt come rather sooner than later.
Founded as Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures arose after a line-up change and the band have released two full-length albums under that name, Dreamcrash (2015) and Motherblood (2017). Beastmilk had one full-length release, Climax (2013). Regardless of line-up changes, the band stayed true to themselves throughout the years, always moving in the post-punk/goth rock, death rock and darkwave genre. Plagueboys is no exception to that rule. Although a bit softer in sound than its predecessor, the album fits seamlessly into the band’s previous material and also into wider genre standards. Their current label Century Media also mention the tag synth pop in their description, but pop this is not. The album’s lyrics make sure of that.
Who or what the Plagueboys are is not explained in detail, but judging from the cover art, they might share a similar story and some personality traits with the boys from William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies. In any case, the album describes a post-apocalyptic setting, where the boundaries of civilization have been eroded. There is no one left to uphold the rules or to teach them to the younger generation. The characters we are presented with, apart from the Plagueboys, involve, for example, Disintegration Girl – the “end of the world in the form of a girl”. Then there are people High on Annihilation, and, as the lyrics to Heart like a Slaughterhouse state, there is overall “too much blood to ever clean up.” The meaning of the latter line of lyrics? This is a one-way street. There is no way back from this. Some deeds cannot be undone.
On a journey through a decaying world, Plagueboys zooms in on forms of pathology and on coping mechanisms. Not all is doom. This is goth rock, after all. The music, is bittersweet, melancholic and often danceable. There is a Conspiracy of Love setting itself against the overall downfall. The idea of love as the final act of resistance is certainly intriguing. I have encountered it before, and not so long ago. New Yorkers Blacklist, also a goth rock outfit, conjured up a comparable setting on their album Afterworld (2022) and a similar way out of it.
For lovers of things goth and post-punk, the music on Plagueboys will strike many familiar notes, bringing New Model Army, Killing Joke, Joy Division or Bauhaus to mind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer anything new apart from the lyrics which are truly special. I must say that I had expected much, much more.
(7/10 Slavica)
Leave a Reply