A common complaint about
VHS or Beta is that they tend to pay homage rather than innovate. For their 2011 release
Diamonds & Death,
Craig Pfunder and
Mark Palgy still sound blissfully ignorant of the present trends, but instead of referencing
Daft Punk house,
Killers dance punk, or
Duran Duran arena pop gloss, they dig deeper into ‘80s dance, Hi-NRG, and Euro-pop.
Depeche Mode and
Erasure were notable influences on
Bring on the Comets, and they are referenced even more obviously here. In the four years between this album and the last, the duo became less focused on crafting singles. Since moving to Brooklyn in 2009, the two spent a lot of their free time DJing clubs, and the album shows their newfound appreciation for long, absent-minded, nocturnal beats. Bright synth tones and a robotic thump (courtesy of programming and drummer Jim Orso) drive
Diamonds & Death's entire running time. At the high points, the record succeeds in being very danceable, especially on the instrumental “Jellybean,” but it is also more of an indistinct listen than a clever one. ~ Jason Lymangrover