DZ DEATHRAYS play the Bovine Sex Club on March 21, Sound Academy and Wrongbar on March 22, and the El Mocambo on March 23 and 24, all as part of CMW. Rating: NN
Brisbane, Australia’s DZ Deathrays are set to play five shows at CMW, and if they’re hoping to endear themselves to Canadian audiences, they already have one big thing going for them: they sound exactly like Death from Above 1979.
To be fair, most rock duos inevitably get compared to those recently reunited Toronto thrash-poppers, but the likeness heard on this five-song EP is impossible to ignore. They mix noisy fuzz riffs and danceable melodies, while singer/guitarist Shane Parsons adopts the same vocal register as Sebastien Grainger. The song Blue Blood even grabs its riff wholesale from DFA1979’s Turn It Out. This isn’t a resemblance it’s a straight rip.
And while it’s a sound we like, now that the real Death from Above are back together, there’s no void needing filling.
Top track: No Sleep
