LAZERPUNK - DEATH & GLORY

LAZERPUNK is a retrowave and dark electro producer from Hungary, and while you can find many articles about him online I have a feeling you will fully understand the man through his most recent and punishing output "DEATH & GLORY". An eleven track album featuring the likes of Quixotic and Daniel Deluxe, LAZERPUNK's latest and greatest came about after life had tried to shoot him down over and over again until he was on the brink of falling apart. This is LAZERPUNK's resurrection and he is more alive than ever, baby. 

'EGO DEATH' starts the album with a brief harmonic symphony before we're put into the dark electro blender with crushing beats, scratchy noise, and an overall desire to make you want to dance. While he does have retrowave influences within his music, 'EGO DEATH' is LAZERPUNK at his most animalistic, firing off repeated shots of electronic shock and awe. 'POWER' kicks off like a chainsaw. With the rattling chains and cheering crowd I felt like I was in the middle of a battle arena about to face my own death. 

'BLACK LAMBO' goes into friendlier, dancier territory with a cybernetic kick to it. The vocals spew out like a virus infected robot is singing and the samples of machine guns firing, laughter, and the all out chaos involved within the song was fascinating. 'VHS HORROR' takes into account some tropes of the genre with light, chiming synth work reminiscent of (as the title states) horror scores from the 70s and 80s. The song became absolutely addicting for me once the guitar elements made face. 

I did mention a chainsaw earlier, but a literal chainsaw opens up 'WARMACHINE' and from there we are treated to another dancefloor killer. I felt as if the next four tracks 'POISON', 'RAMPAGE', 'ANGER', and 'REVENGE' were all part of their own unique section on the album, being chronological stages to a grand finale. 'ANGER' was my favorite out of this quadrilogy as it took its time delivering a slow, creep-crawly, and thumping rhythm. If the rest of the album was an adrenaline rush, 'ANGER' shook off like a hit of slow motion in the midst of LAZERPUNK's album. 

"DEATH & GLORY" is bolstered by prolific appearances from the previously mentioned Quixotic and Daniel Deluxe. Quixotic is featured on the song 'SPEEDRACER' which is ramped up but not as fierce as LAZERPUNK's solo songs. As imagined, this one would fit perfectly amidst a high speed chase in a video game or in real life (let's just keep our fingers crossed that doesn't happen to anyone). Daniel Deluxe is featured on the song 'DIGITAL DEMON' which is a much more tame song on the album. Keeping within the retrowave atmosphere, the song delivers a controlled but darker electronic beat that's hypnotizing. 

Through and through LAZERPUNK has helped define the underground dark electronic scene within Hungary and "DEATH & GLORY" shows why he continues to be such a brute force within the dark electro and retrowave scenes. His anger and bestial side came out in full force on "DEATH & GLORY". Anyone who's standing in his way is about to get crushed by driving beats and some of the hardest rhythms I've heard in a while. 

The album is currently available on LAZERPUNK's Bandcamp under the pay-what-you-want model. Throw the guy a few bucks if you have it; this album is worth a ton more than free. 


Mar 04 2018