DEADLETTER - Hysterical Strength

If ‘Hysterical Strength’ is one thing, it’s uncompromising. Appearing as if an increasingly anxious stream-of-consciousness, the group’s penchant for pairing kitchen sink cacophony with frontman Zac Lawrence’s booming, pissed-off delivery is ever-present, making for a coherent record, yes, but also one which constantly threatens to veer into one-note territory and is at points an exhausting listen. Its best moments come when hinting at something aside from the well-worn 2020s angsty post-punk sound that otherwise pulses through its motorik veins: the hints of Madness that provide the hook on ‘Mere Mortal’; the threat of a pop chorus on ‘Deus Ex Machina’; the Britpop-style storytelling of the title track. Because elsewhere, as opening number ‘Mother’ crashes into life, the jazzy intro of ‘Relieved’ fades away or closer ‘Auntie Christ’ bristles, there’s the looming feeling that any one of a number of a rotating cast of gravelly, agitated vocals could appear and we’d be none the wiser. Impeccably recorded and formulated with pin-sharp precision, but in need of a little more of a distinctive voice.