EP Review - Love Psycho Kill Machine - Decrepit Youths

Alt-rock sensations Decrepit Youth makes its much- anticipated debut release with their EP Love Psycho Kill Machine and it will surely wet the appetites for what’s to come from this band of myriad influences.

After over a decade since Bring Me The Horizon’s immensely influential, game-changing release Sempiternal, an initial spin of Decrepit Youth’s debut EP would prove just how true that point is and, perhaps more interesting, how the album is just now beginning to spawn bands that the youth of the time were listening to on repeat while purchasing their own instruments and learning to play along.

Decrepit Youth is, at once, easily identifiable with those who prefer BMTH’s alt-metal persona and, indeed, the genre-bending, era-defining sound that has proven difficult to pin down and classify sonically. But instead of taking the easy approach that many of their contemporaries have (and fallen by the wayside as a result) and re-write BMTH songs that could score you a slot on the radio, Decrepit Youth are looking to take on their influences and push their creative flare farther. In the process, they look set to put their own stamp on the alt-rock world and give listeners a much wanted feel for something familiar but unique. And Decrepit Youth defy such trite and unimaginative classifications with Love Psycho Kill Machine.

Upon repeated listens to the three track EP, the band cannot and will not be so simply boxed into a corner as just another alt-rock upstart four-piece. The quartet hailing from Newcastle have clearly nailed the formula to take their own stylized unique blend of influence soup and push the ship a bit farther out to sea. And with a debut like this one, that sea could just be limitless for an act that, far from shying away from the host of bands that one could point out (quite derivatively) has massively influenced their sound, embraces the trails that have been blazed for them. And this is something to be admired for these young up and comers and a clear sign that the future of UK alt-rock, or any rock for that matter, is in safe hands.

With the eponymous opening track, Decrepit Youth waste no time in introducing the listener to what they’re all about with an opening stomping riff reminiscent of Royal Blood and a lyric delivery that Don Broco would instantly approve of, leading to a soaring, catchy-as-hell chorus that seems like it is just begging for a stirring sing-along worthy of the upcoming summer festival circuit.

The second track and EP leading single “Black Dove” is where the band seems to truly take-off, with a distinct blend of industrial goth and alt-metal synth pop. It is easy to see why the band have chosen to highlight this track as it arguably encapsulates best what the band are trying to achieve on the EP. A chorus that extends a hand to the, what will be, droves of alternative minded fans with a bleak look at the world the youth of today have inherited, driven home by such a rousing, call to arms chorus-“Can you feel my pain?”-that will leave even a casual listener wanting to punch a hole through their wall in defiance.

Closing track “Monster In Me” walks the line deftly between a cheeky nu-metal rhythm and central riff, a la Architects, that leads into a beat down chorus. The song is probably the most varied track off of the EP and one that gives tantalising evidence to where the band could potentially go with a future full release.

With the band already turning heads, their single “Kill the Lights” receiving regular air play on BBC’s Radio One Rock Show, the future is bright for Decrepit Youth and the debut of their first EP will surely see the group continue their meteoric rise.

Decrepit Youth Love Pycho Kill Machine is released Friday, 21 st March