Deathcrash - Somersaults Review
Deathcrash lead you on a piercingly raw journey that leaves their hearts laid bare on the table before you – grippingly honest and will drive you to tears by the first track.
Deathcrash instantly grab your attention with a building crescendo that showcases their mastery as a band on their latest album, Somersaults, highlighting their growth as a group. It’s a record that embraces the slowcore and turns it inward; focusing on vocals with an invasive honesty from the very first track: “I walked home on purpose so I wouldn’t see you cry”, it’s a barnstormer, building worlds only to crash them down again has been their mission statement across their previous albums Return and Less, in addition to their breakout EP People thought my windows were stars, and the stars have all aligned here for an intensive album that explores the bands’ togetherness as a group.
The friendship that has been going for a new decade pushes the group to its extremes as it captures the vulnerability of the artists and all involved, “this is shy town all the way,” Somersaults explains the things that its subject would never say – and it makes the most out of Tiernan Banks, Matthew Weinberger, Noah Bennett and Patrick Fitzgerald’s talent. It’s what shows how people in childhood can take two different paths – one growing up into an elegant life; one stuck and mourning childhood rumours gone by. The idealism bars with fatalism for an eccentric mix, the quiet embedded beneath the sadness – the right audience will be in tears from just the first song, spinning on the wheels of its perfectionism with a Leonard Cohen-influenced bent. It tucks into the heart of nostalgia and arrives fully formed – giving up on adolescent dreams and lost innocence.
‘Somersaults’ is as memorable a first track as they come – before we get into the sonic blasts of NYC that take you in a different direction – if the first track was about exploring the intimacies of childhood memories; this one takes about the nervousness of stepping out into the world and the torn down relationship between its subject; one taking drugs with Noah whilst the other fleeing the city for the border. It’s vocal heavy and leans into that of The Kinks with an abrasive edge; that feels like a slow burn that explore the consequences of our actions and how they shape who we are. “30 and no career it fucking worries me and doing the band doesn’t help,” vocalist Banks tackles the dilemma of life on the road “and doing the band doesn’t help”. It’s this honesty that makes Deathcrash even have touches of Elliott Smith as the tracks get deeper and more personal, the slowcore spirit deep at home front and centre in the record. It talks up the anonymity of living in the big city – and is a powerful track as they come, building cathartically with a touch of warm tenderness to it that refuses to let go.
The ten track record spirals forward – ‘CMC’ and ‘Triumph’ are intimate, honest, revealing. Everything feels like it’s grasping for air and refusing to let go. ‘CMC’ is where we dip into almost Matt Berninger-influenced tendencies, “I destroy myself in panic making groans every morning hoping I wake you,” showcases the vulnerability of a broken sole insisting that it’s the best life whilst having a tormented realisation that it’s the only one. It feels like the whole album is just a reflection of growing up and that gripping realisation that as you get older you might not live forever; and you want to die whilst realising that you are essentially invulnerable. At its core it’s the same feeling: and Deathcrash’s record capture the split down the middle.
‘Triumph’ shows the band’s willingness to surprise – you wouldn’t expect a band with a South London post-punk background to have the name Deathcrash, but here they are – it’s a song about fighting the urge to drive into oncoming traffic in London and features the return home – “I wouldn’t let you go,” Banks sings, “It’s new year and I want you to know,” clinging onto desperation and the hope of being the one. Here the vocals feel buried and hidden, heavy tracks full of riffs. “three years of no heroin” is a titanic accomplishment for anyone – and it’s about its subject facing up to sobriety. “And the worst part is that it works,” he insists. It is cathartic, harrowing, and if you’re not crying at the first track; you will be by here – it’s emotional as they come and impeccably fearless in scope. Grief, heartbreak are raw and laid bare here – it isn’t possible to fix the past; only move forward in what’s to come.
The bridge on ‘Love for M’ is terrific and full of meaning. “I don’t know if I’ll die at all / I’m not sure if I want to,” feels raw and tackling the record head on with a monolithic, inward gaze. The bands’ emo inspiration comes through here – and are aware of the cheesiness that their record brings to the table. But it feels stripped down, nothing but essential as the subject here – the rumbling sonic crawl of sound that runs through this record feels impeccably triumphant – hint hint, the irony of earlier track ‘Triumph’ – and then we go moving on. It’s a fantastic late-album track dropped with intimacy whilst ‘The Thing We Did’ explores the consequences of falling for “your best friend,” and exploring the crushing down of a relationship around their walls.
No track is never not honest, and Deathcrash lay their heard on their sleeve at every turn. It’s emotionally gripping, devastating and heartbreaking to listen to in full. You’ll feel your soul-shattered and repaired throughout the album in the best way possible – and by the end, it’s clear that you’ll have a new favourite record drop of 2026. It’s quite special – a raw sound rich in emotional overture.