Dead Neanderthals

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Dead Neanderthals
Background information
OriginNetherlands
GenresFree-jazz, metal, grind-core
Years active2012–present
LabelsGaffer Records, Raw Tonk, Utech Records
MembersOtto Kokke, Rene Aquarius
Websitedeadneanderthals.wordpress.com

Dead Neanderthals is a two-person Dutch free-jazz band that has incorporated metal and grindcore.[1] They have released several albums, many of which were based on improvisation, and have been called "one of Europe’s premier experimental free jazz duos."[2]

The band is composed of two members: Otto Kokke on saxophone and synthesizer and René Aquarius on drums. After first collaborating online, they began improvising live, and have released several albums. The Quietus described their 2012 album Jazzhammer/Stormannsgalskap as a mighty "pounding headache of rampaging blastbeats, distorted foghorn drones and radioactive seagull squalls." Their fourth album Polaris was, in contrast, completely acoustic.[1]

Style[edit]

According to The Quietus, "Whether forcing the twitching viscera of free jazz through a grindcore blender, slicing the eyeball of European improvisation with a metal blade, or eviscerating the whole lot in a maelstrom of noise, the sax-drums duo of Otto Kokke and Rene Aquarius pay little heed to the boundaries of genre."[1] A 2023 interview in Decibel called them an "avant noise metal duo."[3]

Discography[edit]

Albums by Dead Neanderthals (incomplete list)
Date Title Label Notes
2012 Jazzhammer / Stormannsgalskap Self-released
2013 Polaris Utech Records
2013 ...And It Ended Badly Gaffer Records, Raw Tonk
2016 Live at Roadburn 2016 Roadburn Records Recorded at the Roadburn Festival
2017 Molar Wrench Hominid Sounds Collaboration with Sly and the Family Drone
2022 Metal Utech Records
2022 Click self-released
2023 Specters Utech Records With Scott Hedrick on guitar
2023 Gilded Form Burning World Records With Nick Millevoi on guitar
2023 Ordo Dracul Demo self-released EP

Molar Wrench was listed by one reviewer in The Guardian's summary of the best music of 2017.[4]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Smith 2013.
  2. ^ Conroy 2018.
  3. ^ Tepedelen 2023.
  4. ^ "The best albums and tracks of 2017: how our writers voted". The Guardian. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2024.

References[edit]

External links[edit]