The Death Set-To

Hailing from Baltimore, the [mother ****'n] Death Set (as they are so apt to call themselves) pretty much fulfill every expectation one might have of a thrash-punk trio in the realms of song execution and composition–their EP, To, is a screaming blast-through of 7 songs within 12 minutes, with no song containing a progression involving more than 3 chords or straying too far away from the oh-so-catchy V-I hook.  But despite this seemingly banal description of the Death Set’s music, one thing is for sure–they’re just…reaaaally fun to listen to.

Anthemic lyrics abound as Johnny Sierra breathlessly screams lines such as “If I felt cynicism, I’d wrap it in a blanket of discontentment–**** that!” over…and over again to a background of programmed synth hooks, artificial drums, 3-note guitar solos, and enough ”nah nah nah”’s to make you nauseous from head-bobbing alone.  One can’t deny that listening to this genre of music is a **** ton of fun, and luckily, the Death Set do a great job of making this great, albeit short, high-energy EP worth yo’ money!

As fun as it is to listen to these guys on your ipod/discman/walkman/etc, it doesn’t come close to the level of energy that these guys display live.  A recent show at Terrace Club featured the Death Set as an opening act…an opening act that started at 12:30 AM; from the Death Set’s opening bass-heavy hip hop track (played via iPod) to their closing cover of Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings” complete with Johnny’s running-in-place and cabinet-climbing, there wasn’t a single person in that 15 person crowd who stopped moving or singing along to the Set’s set.  This was probably helped by the fact that the band literally has a ceaseless background synth/click track that they play on their iPods throughout their whopping 20 minute set.  These Baltimore rockers put on an amazing show…and their love for performing this kind of music translates pretty well into a studio recording, which is not an easy feat for most punkers.