Premiere: with 'Luxury Letdown,' 生 Conform 死 have never sounded better

21 November 2019 | 11:18 am | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

A luxurious level up for Perth's 生 Conform 死.

A luxurious level up for Perth's 生 Conform 死.



生 Conform 死 are unashamed and unapologetic lovers of nu-metal. Some bands despise the modern "nu-metalcore" label, whereas others embrace it. As for this Perth band, they don't seem to give the slightest shit either way or about what anyone thinks of their art; just writing dark, heavy-hitting music with flourishes of various styles and influences, letting the pieces fall where ever they may. Their songs cover so much ground for nu-metal and metalcore's bag-of-tricks tricks, yet the ever-growing Aussie collective really seems to understand what makes these type of songs "click"; knowing what brings people to this kind of music to begin with. That ethos rules their newest single, 'Luxury Letdown.'

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What's great about 'Luxury Letdown' is that it's always moving forward, there's always something happening that's driving the song along. Whether it's the "b-b-bounce" samples or the Serbian counting heard before the outro; the dissonant guitars, kinetic transitions, and bulky grooves that litter the song; the punchy dual screams, subtle clean vocals, Dropout Kings' guest rap feature, and the classically nu-metal out-of-tune spoken vocals; or the slowed-down breakdown at the end and said outro's blaring synths - there's a lot going on with 'Luxury Letdown'. It has so much energy; 生 Conform 死 just sound so galvanized here.

Produced by the band's guitarist, Jeremy Grahame Pickett, 'Luxury Letdown' is a dark, bouncy nu-metalcore piece, one that tackles ideas of identity, self-worth and vapid aspects of modern life viewed online, posing the question: "you think you're happy now?" Coupled with its off-putting video focusing on shallow excess, over-sexualization, and deranged hedonism brought about from cruel marketing tactics, it's a critique of people who exist on auto-pilot but also about those who helped place such vulnerable young people in that state in the first place; knowing full-well the deep addiction of the systems they were offering under as services. It's a heavy song imploring us to do away with the hyper-perfect lives we portray and instead get back to what's real; finding healthier ways of coping. (There's also some music industry commentary slipped in at the end, too; "To the dead bands with their dead trends, Tryina make ends meat, Without a label force-feeding rotten fruit from a dying tree.")

There's nothing musically original about what 生 Conform 死 are doing here, and that's perfectly fine. Because 'Luxury Letdown' is mainly a huge improvement for the Western Australian group. Just as 2018's solid 'Circa '94' LP was a big step up from their 2016 EP, this is yet another honing of their own skills; a further refinement that sees them sounding and writing at their best levels yet. And it bodes incredibly well for where this independent Australian band will be heading in 2020 and beyond. Those who dislike the nu-metal of the now and the old can keep their comments in their pockets, yet those really get it are in for a real treat with this bad boy. This is no letdown.

Take a big swig of 'Luxury Letdown' below: