DreamKillers - Now Look What Happened Review

Dreamkillers are a force to be reckoned with, heralding from Brisbane Australia back in 1990. When they first came out Brisbane really needed a band like this, and we still do. I remember when I first heard “Sarah” on Triple J back in 1995, with my finger steadily on the record button, I pushed it down. I kept listening to it thinking “yes, this isn't trendy, alternative rubbish, this is the real thing. A few years later I taped Scorched Earth Policy off one of my friends older brothers and would listen to it on my walkman while I rode my BMX to school. I was only a kid so I didn't get to go see them live till years later. After 1997's Character Building Hell Trip The band sadly disbanded, but they are back and they are sounding bigger and heavier than ever. 2010 showed the return of the Dreamkillers with a much-needed retrospective C.D. “I'm Not Fucking Sorry” which compiled stuff from their albums and E.P's into a nice little package for long-time fans and newcomers alike. 2010 saw the band with a new lineup and a new E.P. Pockets of Water, a solid release with a modern sound but somehow it was just missing something. 2016's Now Look What happened has an urgency to it, a fully focused concept which fits nicely alongside the band's back catalogue whilst still sounding fresh. This Is not a release to sleep on, honestly if you haven't listened to this yet. Wake Up! And as soon as you hit play, that's exactly what will happen to your senses.

After the muffled screams subside and the uneasy images that accompany them arise the opening track Panic Attack bursts out of the speakers sounding like Motorhead if they were a carnival band playing during the apocalypse. Trends come and go but aesthetics like this are timeless. Dreamkillers were never quite a metal band, a punk band or a grunge band but were always a heavy band based on honesty and integrity.

Once this has been established they break into a cover version of Alice Coopers – Desperado, (from one of my all time favourite albums Killers). The acoustic guitar tone is clean and just glistening, it’s actually quite stunning, Les's Vocals have a personality and a depth rarely seen in heavier music, in this day and age and he really makes this song his own. While they don't out-do a classic they do own it and it sounds like it could slot into their set just like one of their own songs.

Speckled twin takes off where “Monster” from their first EP (1992's Poison in the Soup) started. While Monster explored the events of the Brisbane Lesbian Vampire Killing in 1991 in which 4 girls lured a drunk man into their car and drove to the river where one of the girls stabbed him to death and allegedly drank his blood.

Read More Here... Tracy Wiggington Murderpedia

Speckled Twin is a modern extension of this exploration of the real and macabre through song. Exploring the true story of a Katherine Knight, a local woman who killed her partner, skinned him and fed him to the kids.

Read More Here... Katherine Knight Murderpedia

These events are both quite close to home and as someone who grew up in Australia often reading about serial killers and macabre crimes, most of which happened overseas. These particular stories really send a chill down my spine knowing that it happened right here in our own backyard. It’s good to see an Australian band deal with these topics. After the static filled news report the band kicks in with the biggest riff on the whole EP, it’s a riff that crawls over your skin like a spider and it creates an unnerving vibe.

“Now look what happened, cause you wouldn’t fucking listen”

The title track ties everything together for me it’s the stand out track, catchy, memorable and really sums up what the whole EP is all about. It explores the idea of mankind destroying our own world. This is done from a retrospective angle. Implying that when everything falls apart this is the song we will be singing. It is delivered with desperation and conviction. Begging you to listen. The sound is urgent and powerful.

Lost Tradition P.2 is a more intense follow-up. Somehow ramped up and has a nastier attack and tone to it. Cole is a punkier sounding track with an incessant descending riff which reminds me of The Germs - We Must Bleed. Fitting into the carnivalesque them and wrapping things up nicely.

In Conclusion Now Look What Happened is a beast of a release. All the songs are different while still fitting really well together and help to create an overall theme. The production is very professional and Daniel Hathaway, who is still a young new producer has absolutely outdone himself on this. Now Look What Happened is on a whole different level, to a lot of the independently made music from Brisbane and has set a standard that many people making heavy music will aspire too. Make sure to grab a copy of from the website below and get out to see The Dreamkillers Live.