Sadness & Complete Disappointment, Monotony
Self-release

Two singles in and Sadness & Complete Disappointment are already firmly establishing themselves as the scene’s next grunge heavyweights. Their latest offering, Monotony, is an utter storm – shockingly classic for a second single, established and forceful. After naming them part of Bittersweet’s Flavours of 2021, Sadness & Complete Disappointment truly live up to the name by releasing an absolutely devastating lament, the kind of desolation that’s pretty much the current national mood. It does come with some good news, though – their debut EP, conversely titled Fun, is due out in March.

Monotony only has a three-minute runtime, but somehow feels drawn out into an epic. In the style of the 90s’ very best, S&CD bring in huge builds, dark and haunting bridges, and simply enormous choruses that see Monotony totally burst its banks in a swell of pure noise. Esme’s burnished vocal delivery is a jagged shine atop the wall of sound that constitutes the instrumental – it’s a powerful combination, urgent and intense.

Sadness & Complete Disappointment have mastered the art of harsh, subtle, poetic storytelling – the themes on Monotony (loneliness, isolation, boredom) will be painfully familiar, and the track does a flawless job of capturing the “strange and awful” side of it all. Through a fog of claustrophobic guitars, silvery lyrical moments like “die young and beautiful, emaciated and anaemic” cut through, somehow both looming with the instrumental and stripping it down with their bluntness.

If there was ever a way to stomp on to the scene and make sure you’ve got people listening, Sadness & Complete Disappointment have it nailed with their gorgeously gloomy sound. If their EP is half as bleak as what we’ve heard so far, then… well… it’ll be essential listening.

Fun is out March 5th.