Crossover punk/thrash metal trio Death Pill has once again overcome all adversity in order to keep their powerful musical project going. Two years after their debut album, the Ukrainian sensations Mariana, Anastasiia and Nataliia are back with Sologamy, a record that is a massive step forward in terms of innovation, sound and genre diversity for the band. Ten tracks full of fast thrash riffs, blast beats, melodic emo guitars and even pop vocals, all bangers no fillers.
“The title, inspired by the concept of marrying oneself, speaks to the importance of making a personal commitment to self-care, happiness, and emotional well-being,” the band says.
And we can only imagine how important it is to take care of yourself, prioritize your mental health and do what makes you happy when you’re a person that is experiencing the traumas and consequences of war every day. The three musicians have been living in different countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Spain, Australia and Ukraine) and have been working on this album remotely on zoom calls and recorded it separately as well. If this is not a real commitment to punk music, what is it?
‘Listen to Me, Sister’ stomps in with the fastest metal guitars, the track is almost exclusively instrumental except for the clear call to action: “Listen to me sister, let’s fuck this system!”. This song feels like a statement to start off the dances. This is what they do, get ready to be blown away.
With no hesitation ‘Haters Gonna Hate’ comes next, keeping the bpm high. Its most interesting feature is the switch from the riot grrrl sound, with the irreverent attitude and gang vocals, to the super impressive screams and fast d-beat drums, and before you know it, it’s gone.
Standing out on its own for the, once again, impressive metal riff is ‘Craterface’. The mastery of these musicians in the thrash genre could easily put them up there with bands that are doing the same crossover in the hardcore scene at the moment such as Pest Control. After listening you are left breathless with a sense of lingering pure evil. You can tell this song has some special weight among the rest of the tracks of the album. “Craterface is my ultimate catharsis. A catharsis of consuming hatred, of the vengeance that eats me from the inside” the band says.
From here on we see a drastic change, the band is not afraid of experimenting with any genres. ‘Phone Call’ takes you by surprise with its catchy, pop punk aura. You listen to it once and it’s already stuck in your head. The Distillers punk rock attitude meets Veruca Salt’s fun and harmonic poppy vocals. We then encounter the emo rock and melancholic song ‘Hey, Man’ with a beautifully incorporated cello and vulnerable lyrics, and ‘Monster’, a previously released single, that it’s just quintessential quirky, proggy and metallic hardcore at the same time that could be easily mistaken for a modern System Of A Down composition.
The rollercoaster is real, in the best possible way, and the band keeps going strong until the end with two of the most heartfelt songs of the entire record. The doom energy of ‘Outro’ with its dragged, enchanted folk vocals stretches up to ‘Pro Yarika’. The clean guitar, the piano, the soft voice, everything is building up to the final blast of energy. Mariana’s distinctive evil scream jumps in the midst of pure chaos, all this to be topped by marvellous harmonises. This is a song that will give you some real goosebumps, a real gem.
This entire album has been beautifully crafted and you can tell that there has been a lot of work behind it. It can be listened to multiple times in a row without ever getting tired and has something for everyone. There are no limits for Death Pill. We can only be grateful to New Heavy Sounds for making sure that this band could continue to produce their art regardless of the distance among them and of all the adversities and struggles. Because these girls’ talent and passion need to be nurtured and protected and it’s necessary now more than ever that we hear what they have to say.