Celebrity Dead
Happy Birthday, Mr. President

February 2005
Released: 2004, D-Trash Records
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewer: Gabriel C. Zolman

Bizarre and confrontational, this digital hardcore release scrapes the metal chalkboard for sheer post-industrial abrasiveness. For fans of Dead World and Alec Empire, the record seethes (and shouts) with political awareness and new millennium angst.

Standout cuts are the experimental “Columbine 2003,” and the heavy electronic thrashings of “Slave Pattern” and “Terminator.” Kindred spirits to classic cyberpunx like Babyland and early Cassandra Complex, this often feels more like “punk” than most guitar-based punk/hardcore releases that are released these days.

While the record’s incessant experimentation—which seems to substitute for compositional skill more often than not—and shrill, crazy-guy ranting gets tiresome after awhile, its duel throttle of left-field heaviness and sheer abrasiveness can make for a convincing one-two punch.

If perhaps the duo that is Celebrity Dead concentrated more on coherent song structure, and less on post-hardcore/post-industrial/pseudo-revolutionary frothing at the mouth, it would feel more like one was listening to the next Atari Teenage Riot, and less like being beaten with lead pipes by angry Democrats. All in all, it is an interesting, albeit frustrating, listen.