CDSM – This Is My New Hell

CDSM, the alternative death disco freaks from Atlanta, are back with a fiery and pulsating new single dubbed “This Is My New Hell.” Beginning with a mutating staccato synthesizer line that feels like it is being played in a gothic German disco house, we are plunged into the satirical darkness with no escape in sight. There is then some distorted hi-hat madness and what sounds like a cowbell turned up to 11, before some heavy industrial (think Ministry) guitar kicks in. Adding to CDSM’s diabolical world, we of course are subject to some razor-tooth synthesizer work. It’s exactly the type of sonic carnage where CDSM left us with their 2022 debut EP, Hell Stairs.

CDSM is a juggernaut of a band with multiple singers and instrumentalists, so we hear paranoid lead vocals from half of the band and backing vocals from everyone else. During the song’s outro, everyone eerily chants “This Is My New Hell,” giving the song a scornful finish.

The song stands on its own as a nefarious post-punk banger, but the accompanying video, directed by Slayton Ccinner, needs to be talked about. With the help of a green screen and some early 2000s video game-type animation, we see the members of CDSM plummeting from a delirious basketball game into the pits of their self-constructed hells—as animated demons do what demons do. The animation work feels like a mix of Spy Kids 3D and old-school Doom and adds to the infernal joke atmosphere CDSM is going for. The only ingredient missing from this track is the saxophone; but CDSM definitely has that in store with the upcoming full-length Convertible Hearse—out via Mothland and Exag’ Records in May.