Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

More than twenty years after Justin Warfield stepped out at the helm of She Wants Revenge, and rewired both the temperament and timbre of “goth rock,” the genre is about to undergo another scintillating make-over as his solo WARFIELD project unwraps Deathrock Devotionals Volume I

The first of multiple EPs that will ultimately comprise an entire new album, Deathrock Devotionals has already made a mighty mark via two widely acclaimed singles, ““All The Fun (Kiss, Kiss, Kiss)” and “Jet Plane.”  Now, three further songs await discovery, “Distraction,” “Whispers for the Dead” and “Get Away/Far Away” – and all three offer incontrovertible proof that the success of this latest venture is here to stay.

It is also a very different beast to She Wants Revenge, as Warfield explains.

“As the singer and co-songwriter of She Wants Revenge, I’ve developed a voice over the last two decades within that framework. But that said, anything I’ve done outside of the band has always been an intentional departure, both to follow musical and creative urges, as well as trying something which wouldn’t necessarily fit the band, but affords me the opportunity to stretch out. 

“Usually this means less minor keys, a different sonic palette, and moving towards something less dark and more indicative of other genres I love and which are part of me, whether it’s hip-hop, shoegaze, or California Rock.

“When I sit down to write, whatever comes out, comes out. But there’s no specific intention. It’s usually the product of what I’m feeling, what I’m taking in media wise, or any number of factors, and often times, when something I write doesn’t fit SWR, I slide to the side and put in the vault as it were.”

WARFIELD, he says, is different, in that “for the first time, the songs I was writing for myself felt connected to my contributions to SWR, both in the way I sang them, but also by virtue of the fact that the music was dark and of the Goth, New Wave world we’ve helped revitalize since founding the band.”

That, he continues, is the direction he followed as the Deathrock Devotionals project came together.  “I allowed the creativity to guide me, and just explored different sounds and building blocks to differentiate it, to make things heavier, punchier, a bit more lighthearted, and with different energy running through it” – a process that the first single, “All The Fun (Kiss, Kiss, Kiss),” made apparent.

“What makes WARFIELD standout and sound different, not just to SWR but to a lot of current electronic-leaning Darkwave, is the similarities it shares with that  lineage of Deathrock, and when I wrote that first song, I knew that I’d found something which felt like a future version of that distinctly 78-83 LA sound, and right away the entire project felt like it was all laid out for me.”

He acknowledges “anything I do is going to reflect all of my collective influences.”  And while one can hear touchstones such as  The Damned, Christian Death, early New Order and Bauhaus, Warfield says equally influential on this project are The Cult, Alice Bag, and The B-52’s. 

“The rapid-fire delivery is the result of loving Chrissie Hynde as much as it is Rakim, and I’m just as inspired by the images of Edward Colver and Linda Aronow as I am the bands they photographed. One thing I love is that people have told me they can hear the hip-hop and other past projects I’ve done in the new music, which to me is the highest compliment, that it’s perhaps the most, ‘me’ of anything I’ve done. 

“And though Deathrock is a term which has never gone away, and die-hards keep alive culturally as well as musically, to me it’s a very special moment in time, that period which followed the late 70s scene in LA when punks let their artsy inclinations guide them towards the macabre, horror-themes, and a creepier, darker, but equally fast and aggressive sound. I mean, 45 Grave, Super Heroines, Rozz, Patrick Mata…all those people pioneered it, I’m just taking inspiration from them, and using my sensibilities and the continuation of that spirit to make something new, fun, full of energy, and fresh.”

DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/warfield_deathrockdevotionalsvoli

VIDEO: “ALL THE FUN (KISS KISS KISS) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rpxSBGb0dw
VIDEO: “JET PLANE” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5oTKSIvFU8