Greet Death - "Punishment Existence"

Greet Death have yet to announce a follow-up their 2019 record, but today they shared a new single called "Punishment Existence."

Sometimes, the truth hurts. Greet Death know this and they're not shy to hide their feelings. This becomes quite clear on their latest song, "Punishment Existence." If anything, the pandemic has made this painfully more apparent and the band exemplifies this when they say: “I get off of work, and I just crawl into my bed/ Staring at the ceiling, lost in thought about death/ Sometimes, it feels like everything is coming to an end/ I wish I could escape from this existential dread.” Not to get too dark, but sometimes lyrics can just fit. Musically, the song doesn't do much to shift the attitude or draw attention away from the devastation. The guitars surge, but the song crawls along, elongating the feelings and putting more stock in to each and every word. Previous singles have revealed more acoustic guitar than prior work and there is more of a shift towards slowcore rather than the heavy, shoegaze-y alternative rock focus of 2019's New Hell. In fact, their Twitter profile describes them as blackened post-alt-country and that feels pretty spot on. Still, these are heavy songs but in lyrics, but also in the density in which they hit you from the speakers. You can tell they're at their best when the volume is cranked to eleven and the music can just about flatten you. There if force and passion here, but it's not the same audio assault like we've heard in the past. Here, Greet Death have harnessed their strength and power and have shaped it into something that still feels urgent, but a bit more reserved.