Review: DeeCRACKS- “Serious Issues”

Pirates Press Records, 5 March 2021

DeeCRACKS go for the throat and sound pretty fantastic doing it.

I don’t know why, but DeeCRACKS are one of those bands that flies under my radar.  I listen to them a lot at times and have really enjoyed albums like Sonic Delusions and the recently reissued Attention! Deficit Disorder.  I’m sure they’re even one of my more listened to bands.  But for some reason, they also sometimes slip my mind when I get into conversations about great bands.  With Serious Issues, DeeCRACKS might’ve pulled off something so good that I might not forget them again.

For those new to the din, DeeCRACKS are Ramones-indebted for sure, but they’ve got a raw streak that hails from the ragged vocal chords of singer Matt DeeCRACK.  His mangled calls veer between anxious shout and sinister and ravaged croon and they shove a layer of grit to the proceedings.  Songs like the “The Samurai Challenge”, “A Reason”, and “Not Today”, each with their own tough-as-nails guitars and shredded-throat vocals, get in and out and play around with something pretty tenacious.  Speaking of getting in and out, “Another Day” is a superfast ripper that closes out in 37 seconds.  On a bunch of these, tenacious angst is the name of the game, but the hooks are never far behind, as dead-eye blasts like “Kill Or Cure” and “The Window” show.

All that rough stuff aside, one of the things that I dig about DeeCRACKS is the way they shapeshift between scorched earth punk rock that obliterates almost like Motörhead and melodic bits that will remind you a bit of Ramones at their bubblegum best.  So many songs on Serious Issues hit right like this that it’s hard to know which to highlight.  “Get Out Of My Head” is a catchy-as-all-get-out mid-tempo hookfest, and same goes for “Don’t Throw It Away”.  “Lost In The Middle” almost has a spaghetti western vibe to some of the layered guitar.  “Inside Of You” has some really melodic bass that plants a flag in my brain and the swing of “A Night Like This” does much the same.  They even get me with some hopeful, nearly saccharine lyrics on the catchy singalong “Don’t Turn Your Heart Off”.  But maybe my favorite is “We Can’t Help It”, which has wonderful melodies on the verse, and an even better one on the chorus (complete with a great cadence hook).  And the lead guitar during the middle eighth is almost exuberant.  These songs aren’t soft, but the focus seems to be melody first, savageness second.

I should mention the couple of instrumentals DeeCRACKS pull off.  Opener “Desert Storm Surf” is the top dog here, with a real propulsive surf vibe that has great sounding guitars and bass and drums that bob and weave in a bunch of awesome ways.  The other instrumental, “The Ambien Shake”, is a little more sleepy (as the title sort of implies), kind of like the come down Beach Boys (while maybe the opener is more “Fun, Fun, Fun”).  No matter, both are cool songs with the leadoff setting up the rest of the record and the “Shake” giving a moment to collect your senses.

DeeCRACKS are the real deal, and Serious Issues is maybe becoming my favorite of theirs.  They’re becoming an institution, and one that I’ll hopefully think of with more and more frequency going forward.

Favorite song: “We Can’t Help It”

Favorite moment: the tough riff on “The Samurai Challenge” jumping in after the surfy “Desert Storm Surf” leadoff

Favorite whatever else: the way the perseverance-loving lyrics of “Don’t Turn Your Heart Off” sucker me in every time