Death Grips, live at Whelan's Dublin

Death Grips are on one serious roll. Over the past 12 months, these Californian purveyors of anti-establishment rhetoric have released two genre-bending LPs, built a reputation as a ‘must-see’ live act and become an online sensation.
Billed as ‘experimental hip-hop’ the acclaimed Sacramento trio’s sphere of influence strays further than this simplistic description. Their wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am 50-minute set showcases material from both of last year’s lauded albums, The Money Store and No Love Deep Web.

Death Grips’ sound has a bone-crunching fervour occasionally reminiscent of crossover alt. metal act Rage Against The Machine and the carefully crafted noisescapes of our very own My Bloody Valentine.
Bathed in blue light, and minus drummer Zach Hill, Stefan Burnett and Andy Morin deliver a wall-of-noise performance packed with an intensity that has the crowd feeling more Friday night than Monday evening. One ear-warping track flows into the next as Burnett, the band’s iconic figurehead prowls back and forth, stripped to the waist, delivering his lung-bursting rhymes over Morin’s heavy synth drone.
The intense atmosphere’s more akin to a thrash metal gig with people slamming furiously and sporadic bouts of crowd surfing. Burnett is a born performer, gesticulating furiously as he bashes out his lines. He’s flanked to his left by Morin, lost in the strangely hypnotic storm of thumping beats, bouncing endlessly, sweat dripping from his face.
From the relentless ‘Lock Your Doors’ to the shuddering assault of ‘Come Up And Get Me’ and the snarling ‘No Love’, Death Grips never dip below all-out-attack mode.