Deadsy, Phantasmagore

About the band’s new album, Phantasmagore, Deadsy frontman Elijah Blue says, “We just wanted to make a rock record in the spirit of [Lou Reed’s] Transformer.” Sorry Mr. Blue — not even close.

Instead, Deadsy do another doomy, gothy, pop/metal-like number. Similar in forms to ’80s pop freaks like Gary Numan and ’90s creepos such as Marilyn Manson or the au courant, My Chemical Romance. There’s definitely a softer side of the influences here, though, a gentleness, but it’s only a hint — and it’s barely discernable. Deadsy are scary, they’re mad as hell — not all the time, of course — but remember…they’re still mad as hell!

The singer groans (and moans, to boot). The guitars are saturated with distortion so that they really don’t sound like guitars anymore but more like alien cousins, a synthesized dilution. The drums, however, are nice and punchy, and the keyboards and synths figure heavily in the picture. The songs have such a pleasant flow to them that you don’t notice one from the next.

Acoustic guitars? This shocker catches me off-guard and can only signal the gathering dark clouds of a huge chorus onslaught. And so it comes to pass. Back to the sentimental acoustic sweetness and then finish off with some more true anger — grrrr!

I waited for the cover of “Paint it Black” with plenty of hesitation and hope, and while Deadsy certainly updates it and “make it their own,” its delivery and execution is still predictable. “Paint It Black” is kinda dark to begin with, isn’t it? Not unfamiliar territory for these gents, I’m sure.

Deadsy are dead-efficient. Each song is perfectly orchestrated and executed and EQ’d in a laboratory (with state of the art equipment, of course) for your listening pleasure. But what’s the solution to such an equation?

It’s all dark with no light to complement. It’s all too perfect, with no “realness” to make it real. It’s all too staged with no wink-and-nudge to really draw you in. It’s all posing and posturing with only makeup and not much substance. Yet, if that’s your poison, then Deadsy’s Phantasmagore is a perfect poison indeed.