Death Goals – A Garden of Dead Flowers
Release Date: 5th May 2023
Label: Prosthetic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore, Queercore.
FFO: Pansy Division, Against Me!, The Hirs Collective.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Until checking out this album, I’d never heard of something called “queercore”, which is obviously a stylistic subgenre of hardcore. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as someone who is hyper-interested in the social issues in my country (USA) surrounding interactions between LGBTQIA+ people and the public/government, I was absolutely ready to hear what UK duo Death Goals had to offer. A Garden of Dead Flowers is set to release on May 5th on Prosthetic Records.
In all my experience with metal music and my own history of being a fan of certain genres, I’ve never spent much time digging into certain genres. For instance, I don’t think that I’ve really gotten any time into grindcore, black metal, pagan metal, or any of the power metal universes. Being someone who’s actively part of the discussion on treatment of LGBT/Queer culture in my own community, I felt like this might strike a chord at the heart of things that are important to me. Obviously, my job is to have a non-biased opinion; so that’s what I’m going to offer. It still remains to be said that there are tragedies occurring worldwide taking the rights, dignities, and even the lives of LGBT+ people who deserve the autonomy to live their lives in peace.
I generally thought of hardcore music as something that followed the punk movement, but evolved into its own genre. Along with grindcore, the scene which created its music was focused on noise, intensity, thrashing instruments and vocals, never needing to follow specific musical “modes” which are generally accepted in the entire musical community. As a result, those subgenres ended up being a funnel for outsider groups including communists, fascists, anarchists, and any other marginalized group that was non-mainstream. I knew in my soul that there would inevitably be a group of people who protest the treatment of the LGBT identity; thankfully, I learned about Death Goals and other musicians picking up the mic regarding these issues.
The music is pure mania – panic chords and angsty screams pervade the entirety of the album. The guitars form a percussive wave of noise and music smooshed together into a dough from which a big beautiful rainbow loaf of insanity was baked.
As a death metal fan, I generally am okay with not being able to decipher lyrics. However, this is a case in which the message seemed important to me. I delved into the lyrical content, the actual writing that should be examined as a political statement.
One thing I am certain; I’m not certain who I am; A creature of discomfort, barely a man; The skin I inhabit is not who I am inside; Calloused with self-hatred before I’ve even fucking tried.
Life is neither a blessing or a curse; I’m trapped inside this body; and it’s only getting worse; I am not a man; I am not a woman; I am nothing; I am nothing…
I think that in the mainstream, there’s not a lot of room for trans and intersex voices. There’s obviously a need for the conversation regarding their rights, but there are various statements which some people want to make that simply are ignored by the majority fighting over bathrooms, makeup, and Disney. There is genuine pain, dysmorphia, self-hatred, substance abuse, sexual/physical violence, and the feeling of being forced to live a lie every single day. We found out in the U.S., according to a study, that denying people gender-affirming care increases suicide rates by. (Tordoff DM, Wanta JW, Collin A, Stepney C, Inwards-Breland DJ, Ahrens K. Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(2):e220978. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.0978). The lyrics in the track Ultraviolence bring a certain level of poignancy to this topic.
Ultraviolence; Trapped in my skin; Laugh track hysteria; But no one’s watching; I’ve been a liar, all of my life; Should meet my end; On the end of a knife; No, you don’t know; Self-taught to be alone; Disassociate, that all I’ve ever known; They’ll hang me in a gallery if I don’t do it first; Spent all my life simply waiting for the hearse; No, you don’t know…
When you mix these powerful statements with the loud harrang of the music, thrashing and panicking over and over, you get a sense of the artistic intent of the piece. One of my absolute favorite Queer/Trans artists are Black Dresses, a Canadian duo of trans women who have used electronic music to create a similar effect. There is a primal angst that is conveyed, a deep sadness which is covered faintly by the threat of peace, eventually. Death Goals is pushing every boundary of the mainstream with A Garden of Dead Flowers, almost like a suicide note, or an anthem for kids to take up in their battle against hatred.
Instead of feigning some attempt at trying to tell everyone “It’s gonna be fine” and “keep your chin up”, A Garden of Dead Flowers is a hate letter to the dysmorphic self, to the people who have marginalized LGBT people, all wrapped up in absolute hardcore chaos that transmits its writers’ message with gut-wrenching accuracy.
Best Track – P.A.N.S.Y.
(3.5 / 5)
