Deathretro: Black Lights – single review

Deathretro: Black Lights

(Cosmic Glue)

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Dance-rock instigators Deathretro bring the noise with Black Lights, the second single from their much-anticipated debut album. Andy Brown shares his thoughts for Louder Than War.

As we cautiously come out of lockdown, we’re going to have to refamiliarise with a few things. How do you socialise? How do you enter a crowded room without feeling anxious? And, most importantly, how do you rock? It’s a skill many of us were once proud of, yet with the restrictions to live music, we’re all a little out of practice. Thankfully, Deathretro are here to prise us off the sofa with a satisfyingly meaty slice of alt-rock.

The Manchester-based outfit started life in Cumbria in the heady days of the mid two-thousands, yet have been on something of an extended hiatus. The pandemic seems to have shaken the band from slumber, as they re-emerged last month with news of their long-awaited debut album. Following on from Edge Of Nothing, the band ramps up the anticipation with the cantankerous and deliciously dark electro-punk of Black Lights. An electronic undercurrent runs throughout the track, yet it’s the muscular, tightly-wound riff that hits you first. Guitarist Adrian Ingham unleashes an angular and satisfyingly substantial riff that channels Eva Vulgaris-era Queens Of The Stone Age.

Transporting us into the middle of some strange, debauched night out, the lyrics are peppered with anxiety and sleep-deprived paranoia. Black Lights bundles us into the back of a van before taking us to a particularly foreboding forest to party with Robert Smith. Mystery, danger and the distinct feeling that the night is only just getting started. You wait years for a band to put out some material, then they release two superb singles in a row. It’s coming back to me in hazy, distant memories – yes, this is how you rock.

You can find Deathretro on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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All words by Andy Brown. You can visit his author profile and read more of his reviews for Louder Than War here.