About the only comment that I could muster when I saw the existence of this release was an extremely emphatic, "NICE! A new Forensics record," before promptly heading over to the Magic Bullet web store and ordering the extremely limited CD (only 88 copies and a few additional that did not meet the artistic standards of the group). Even though Brent Eyestone (vocalist and guitarist of Forensics, sole member of Aughra, member of Meditative Sect) will be quick to point out that Deathscream is not a proper Forensics release but rather the result of quickly composing something for people when they played this past Mac Rock (all of the members could not play so the band improvised); this CD is the recording of the practices for that event. Renaming the release as Forensics Sonic Victimization Unit, Brent and Graham (from Souvenir's Young America) and Daniel (a former Magic Bullet intern) produce four sonic landscapes that comprise of guitars and circuit bending theatrics that really sound like a logical extension of Forensics' Hogback Mountain Sessions Vol. 1.
Part strange marriage of noisy guitar feedback and oscillating tape sounds, part ambient sound, Deathscream provides a harrowing mood for the short amount of time that this EP plays on one's choice of amplification. Personally, the ease of being able to lose one's self in the atmosphere that these three gentlemen create is both thrilling and disturbing at the same time. There were several times that by the middle of "The Infernal Machinations of Hell's Grim Tyrant" that I realized my mind was completely zoned out and not where it should be. The creepy sounds permeate through all four compositions and the nagging thought at the back of my mind is how crazy this release truly is. Seriously, all of this record is improvised and the individual pieces were culled from who knows how much material that the group played while gearing up for their performance. I am of the belief that this record is a whole, and even though there are four separate pieces, it is difficult to segregate these as "songs" and may even be a disservice to Deathscream to do so.
Deathscream is further evidence that Forensics (and Forensics Sonic Victimization Unit) has a breadth of collective ability that works in just about any form of output that the group produces; from their more "rock" oriented material found on works such as their album Things to do When You Should be Dead Anyway to the more free-form noise and soundscape material like this CD, the band seems comfortable in whatever skin it chooses to perform as. The artwork on this release is equally superb with silk screened covers and such that just adds to the overall presentation of the package and flat out unique quality. Magic Bullet truly offers releases that beg to be purchased and treasured by treating them as more than just music to be consumed but rather as art to be appreciated.
