Crybaby Deathmatch are a 3 piece from London UK, who play dirty punk influenced trad doom metal sounding like some twisted Motorhead-on-acid style rock n roll crossed with Slo Burn and even Dinosaur Jr.
Originally called Needlebliss in the late 90's and ripping off Iron Monkey they kept jamming and listening to tons of down-tuned blues metal until they decided to write proper songs and play some gigs.
The founding duo of North Londoners Coley (guitar, vocals) and Del (drums) were then joined by Frenchman and magician, Jerome on bass in 2012 and thus was born Crybaby Deathmatch.
From the opener, Controlled By Machines, we are treated to some down-right sleazy doom riffs which lead to a filthy, heavy rock slice of dirt slathered with a thick layer of agro/anarcho-punk. This is the kind of song a bunch of pissed up and pissed off Brits sing while smashing pint glasses in the street and chucking bricks through windows after having been booted out of their local pub. Later on they will spray paint massive A's for anarchy on the wall of the local school and will still be chanting this song.
With this strong opening track Crybaby Deathmatch show they have a great sound and attitude with vocals that are equally as memorable as the riffs. It grabbed my attention right away and I immediately fell in love with this band.
Fragile Stars follows. Imagine desert/stoner metal as if played by Motorhead. Not that we have deserts here in the UK and certainly not in North London where these boys hail from, but this track is an excellent piece of desert style stoner metal with great lyrics that had me singing along even though I didn't know the words, just 'woooahahwoooo-oh.' etc..
It reminds me of Slo Burn but with Lemmy on vocals, singing a song what I initially interpreted as being about heart break and a broken relationship but is most likely about something else entirely like the infinite vastness of the universe.
Boiled Shark (The Impossibility of Death) is very much in the same vein, although starting with an old school punk intro which then falls into Lemmy singing for Slo Burn again. The riffs are delivered thick and fast and despite its heavy desert edge there is still that layer of early 80's British Anarcho-punk rock attitude. Bottles are being thrown and shop doorways are being pissed on. Fuck you very much Maggie Thatcher for screwing our country. Welcome to Great Britain.
Nimbus changes the vibe laid upon us by the first 3 tracks with an intro that reminds me of Dinosaur Jnr playing a ballad. The Dinosaur Jnr influence carries this track for the most part until the final minute when it goes into a filthy rock sleaze with some stinky wha'd bass riffs that feel like a wad of phlegm stuck in my throat just before I hock that chunk and flob it out onto someones car window. Not that I would actually do that now, but when I was 14 and listening to Dinosaur Jnr a lot, that kind of thing was a regular occurrence.
The final track, Triumph of the Wounded takes us into doom metal territory, sounding almost like very early Electric Wizard or Iron Monkey. It is a slow paced down-tuned sleaze ball of a track with the vocalist sounding like Lemmy again. The filthy riffs are piled on until the pace picks up some adding a trad doom feel to the track. This sounds like the sound track to an early 80's greasy greebo lank haired metaller in a denim cut off plastered with band patches heading for the pub to drink away his giro (unemployed benefits cheque for those outside the UK).
This a strong first release from Crybaby Deathmatch where they display their influences very well and then blend them together seamlessly. Each track very much has it's own substance with themes ranging from experiences of life in the UK's sprawling and hectic capitol that is London, natural disasters and the weather, the inevitable collapse of civilisation and the pressure of modern living, to abstractions of reality and universal contemplation, something the wordsmith of the band calls the 'Awe of the Ominous.'
Triumph of the Wounded is available now as a free download from their bandcamp.
