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Turn Me Off
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Grave Mistake Records
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by James G. Carlson
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Maryland hardcore punk quartet Deep Sleep are wide awake and ripping through ten all-new songs on their first full-length studio release, Turn Me Off, on Grave Mistake Records. With a sound that is all too rare in the hardcore punk scene these days, Deep Sleep have married old school with new school in a way that brings to mind something like Horror Show meets Kid Dynamite meets Youth of Today (Can't Close My Eyes and Disengage days, that is), and so on like that.
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Like most good hardcore punk, Deep Sleep’s songs are short bursts of distorted sound with driving drumbeats and strong, burning vocals, most of them between one and two minutes in length. Turn Me Off’s opener "Live Forever" sets the pace for the rest of the album with its rapid-fire verses and heavy choruses, along with well-placed hooks and sweaty, from-the-gut vocal deliveries. "Turn Me Off," the title track, is definitely one of the standout songs on the album, with great lyrics like, Heart beats fast, won’t let me rest...pull that shit right out of my chest! Other standouts are "Be With You," which has a sort of DRI Thrash Zone quality to it; "Destroy Everything," which is super-short and hits hard; and "Head Spins," which judging by the lyrical content is the closest thing to a drinking song Deep Sleep has to offer.
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As I have already mentioned, Deep Sleep is a four-piece band. Its members are Nick Vance (guitar), Darick Sater (drums), Mike Stearns (bass), and Tony Pence (vocals). Definitely a smart lineup of longtime Baltimore hardcore and punk musicians. One that I expect we will hear more from, too.
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Turn Me Off is available from Grave Mistake Records on both CD and vinyl formats. And if you’re looking for some genuine hardcore punk, and not that pre-packaged assembly line garbage that passes for punk in recent years, Deep Sleep’s Turn Me Off might be one for your collection.
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