CD Review: Fontaines D.C. - A Hero’s Death

Features
By
( )
published

"It’s a record that revels in the kind of off-kilter garishness that a good horror flick does..."

(Image credit: supplied by label)

FONTAINES D.C.
A Hero's Death
PARTISAN / LIBERATOR

2020 is officially the year of doom and gloom, so it feels fitting that LP2 from these trailblazing post-punks would be distinctly crushing. 

The guitars are tuned low and simmer with a ghostly, almost unsettling angularity. The melodies they warble out are lustrous and catchy, but spun through a filter of flagrance à la Grian Chatten’s dull, numbing howl that leaves the whole affair feeling like a car crash that you just can’t help but stare intently at. 

This all surely reads as negativity, but let us be clear: A Hero’s Death is certainly worth diving into. It’s a record that revels in the kind of off-kilter garishness that a good horror flick does – certainly not for kids, and admittedly rather niche, but for those to whom it does appeal, there’s a damn good time to be had.

Ellie Robinson
Ellie Robinson
Editor-at-Large, Australian Guitar Magazine

Ellie Robinson is an Australian writer, editor and dog enthusiast with a keen ear for pop-rock and a keen tongue for actual Pop Rocks. Her bylines include music rag staples like NME, BLUNT, Mixdown and, of course, Australian Guitar (where she also serves as Editor-at-Large), but also less expected fare like TV Soap and Snowboarding Australia. Her go-to guitar is a Fender Player Tele, which, controversially, she only picked up after she'd joined the team at Australian Guitar. Before then, Ellie was a keyboardist – thankfully, the AG crew helped her see the light…