New Band of the Week: Death Of Me

Aggressive but romantic may sound like the ultimate musical oxymoron, but Stoke-on-Trent band Death Of Me have achieved it in style with an encapsulating post-hardcore sound that they describe as “atmospheric, aggressive and emotional.”

The quartet of Jim Carter (vocals and synths/programming), Mike Foxall (guitar), Luke Gordon (bass) and Rob Barnes (drums) started out as a synth-based instrumental project during the COVID lockdowns. But after writing together, the band thought it “felt weird” to leave the music as instrumental pieces, so added the rockier elements to take it to a new level.

As Jim tells us: “It’s always an evolving work in progress, I think it has to be as an artist nowadays, but we always have the ethos of balancing the light with the dark, the yin with the yang. So you could expect post-hardcore influences meets 80s synth and rock. The pop is always balanced with the heavy and it’s about taking that journey through the music.

“The ethos was to transcend genre and trends and explore the darkest corners of the human psyche both sonically and visually and create a little world of our own. Death Of Me became the vessel to put pen to paper, exercise demons and expose open wounds on the stage of the world.”

Our first taste of this was recent single True blue, which opens up with a pulsing synth and moody backing instruments. Jim’s engaging vocals join in with the opening lines “Hello hurt, it’s been too long, My mourning light, my dying sun, Our little deaths won’t numb the pain, ‘Cos love’s how you fake it anyway” over atmospheric instrumentals. It gradually picks up pace as it flows into a big singalong chorus “Worlds away, Sing me your sweet decay, True blue for you, In this doomsdaze, Every moment’s the same, True blue for you.”

Heavier guitars and driving drums kick in to support more intense vocals, which set up another catchy chorus. It drops into a light synth sound, then bursts of stabbing guitars and intense vocals give way to a delicious little instrumental section with heavy guitars and a twinkling synth, which tees up a final blast of the chorus.

On the track, Jim told us: “We had this song written for the best part of a year and knew it would be a single, but we really took our time with the video and getting it out to get it right. It was important to us to capture visually that haunting essence of the track. Sonically, it takes from so many genres and you can expect lots of arpeggiated synths, heavy guitars and soaring vocals. Lyrically, True blue really is about the complete and utter devotion to a cause, feeling or love, even as the world around you crumbles and destroys as a result, and the emotional sacrifices you make to keep that devotion alive.” Check out this fantastic track here:

True blue comes from Death Of Me’s debut EP Hell’s where you make it, Love’s how you fake it, which was released last month. Another standout track from the EP is the excellent Halo, which the band describe as a “love letter to the post-hardcore side of Death Of Me.” And naturally, our inner post-hardcore self absolutely loves it.

It opens up with a burst of guitars and searing synths that flow into a powerful opening verse with big vocals supported by heavy guitars and drums. That sets up a trademark catchy chorus “Maybe the worst is to come, So give all your hell to me, my darling, When this isn’t love, this is war, But heaven help your halo falling.” A second chorus gives way to punchy guitars and dreamy backing instruments, which continue under a cool little riff that builds towards a final chorus. Check it out in the video, which the band claims was filmed in “one of the most haunted locations in the UK” here:

The EP also includes the powerful, more anthemic Cry and the superb Your heart, the casket, which you can watch in the video below. And it concludes in style with the delicious The long lost art to never falling apart and the gorgeous final track Choice words and cursive.

On the EP as a whole, Jim said: “We’re so ready to get it out into the world and let it take on a life of its own. We’ve been so laser focussed on ensuring every track contributed to our vision for the record, and what we were able to come away with, (after throwing out what must have been close to 30 initial song ideas), was our statement of intent as a band and the blueprint for our sound. You can expect 8 tracks that take you on a journey through grief, love and loss and that’s as aggressive as it is romantic.”

The Death Of Me sound draws influence from the 2000s post-hardcore and emo scene, as well as rock and metal, 80s music and the New Romantic movement. Or as Jim puts it: “It’s the blending of these genres really that gives us our sound. I guess we wanted to sit somewhere between Depeche Mode and My Chemical Romance – which was cool, because it really meant we had no rulebook, or even frame of reference at times when writing this record.”

And on what inspires them to write music, Jim adds: “For us, it’s just about being authentic. Writing about real experiences and things that matter – anything else just doesn’t have that sincerity and it shows. Typically we write about four subjects: Love, Death, Sex, Religion. These feature all the way through the record but I guess the art is telling the story differently each time and in a new way with new meaning. These collective experiences are things that all of us humans can relate to so hopefully people find the meaning they need individually from them.”

There’s plenty more to come from Death Of Me, who’ll be touring in November, including playing with another of our former NBOTWs Foxhaunt at The Rigger in Newcastle Under Lyme on 11 November (tickets here). and releasing another music video ahead of some great shows and festivals through 2024.

And Jim adds: “We’re just thrilled to have the record out and let people into our weird little world. The love and support for this band so far has been overwhelming and our hearts are full. Long may it continue, because those connections and connecting with people is what makes it all worthwhile.”

You can follow Death Of Me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube Music and YouTube.