What’s in a name? There are few more difficult band activities than choosing a fitting moniker. Naming your group “Heat Death”—after “the theoretical end of the universe”—is an epic task to heap upon oneself. Taken on its own, the name paints a straight-faced picture. Vocalist/guitarist Kenneth Sabbar said that they wanted to “Play some shows; have fun. [We] didn’t want to over-complicate things and get stuck trying to do too much. Keep it simple, really.” This humble lightheartedness is in direct contrast to the self-seriousness of their name. They are a band built on balances.
Heat Death is comprised of ex-members of Dawn of Man along with other projects. The group began as a solo project for Sabbar. His home-recorded Obsolescence EP caught the attention of local tastemaker Aaron Skufca, who then extended an invitation to play a show at the now-defunct Lucky Cat. Unbeknownst to Skufca, there was no actual band at that point. “The band wasn’t a thing at the time, really; we essentially decided to work together to make those apartment recordings become an actual band,” Sabbar said. On short notice, the band soldiered through this first show minus synth player Terrance Barrett.
The Obsolescence EP provided a muddied blueprint for Heat Death’s sound. While being listenable-y lo-fi, the crackling distortion somewhat obscures the songs’ dynamics. According to Sabbar, it “was recorded in an apartment with no outside input, really. Even the name is probably a little contrived, but it stuck.” Three out of the EP’s four tracks appear in re-recorded versions on the band’s newly released full-length cassette 9 Steps To A Happier Life. These new, hi-fi versions give the songs new life. Sabbar said, “For 9 Steps we went to a cabin in Phillips, Wis., and spent six days just making music and recording. Everything was done in that cabin with little outside influence besides our shared influences.” With this new polish, Obsolescence emerges as an In the Flat Field-era, Bauhaus-styled rocker. It has a similar goth-y feel paired with an intense mid-tempo drive. “Black Fountain Blues” re-appears as the album centerpiece. The atmospheric instrumental shows shades of Jesu and Hum in its melodic dirge. Alongside the re-recorded tracks, the album is augmented by six additional tracks.
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The touchstones for Heat Death’s sound are numerous. According to the band, they are influenced by a wide range of music, as well as “films by directors such as David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick and Gaspar Noé. Pizza and bad jokes also come into play a lot with the band.” Listening to 9 Steps, one can notice the marks of Sonic Youth or Protomartyr on the band’s sound, as well as the aforementioned bands. While this plethora of sounds risks coming off as imitative genre exercises, Heat Death manages to filter it into one cohesive unit. This compound of sounds transcends genre and affords the band a versatility to be slotted onto most bills citywide.
“There are some brutally honest, bad feelings on the album, and there are some very funny moments, and I hope people see that balance,” noted drummer Landon Deaton. “It’s funny how terrible things can be.” Heat Death is music for anyone who has laughed out of awkwardness or in a moment of fear. They are the soundtrack to accepting your mortal fate with a smile and a shrug.
9 Steps To A Happier Life is available now on cassette or digitally from Heat Death’s Bandcamp page.
