This song is an infectious, curious, horrifying, and bizarre sound that’s going to get your ears perked.
Derek Lee Goodreid hails from Perth, Australia. He has managed to carve a distinctive niche for himself and his music. Soulful, guttural singing on top of bluegrass and rockabilly-tinged guitars and horror themed lyrics and arrangements. With Halloween right around the corner, Goodreid has decided to treat us with a double feature single which features morbid words, and a crawling rockabilly guitar part played by the youtuber Adrian Whyte. The guitar is percussive and clean and so prominent it actually feels moving and writhing, terrifying as Derek sings “I feel death breathing down my neck”.
The mix only sports an additional guitar part that plays a watery, complimentary line to Whyte’s skeletal one, and an upright bass playing a walking line courtesy of Stephen K. Donnelly, which adds to the unsettling, crawling feeling of the sound. The singing is very memorable and distinctive. Bluesy and gutsy, it started with a shock for me but then quickly felt like the perfect delivery for the atmosphere at hand.
Racing Against Death is a deceptive little number. Short and unassuming, with a minimal mix, you might get tempted to not think much of it, but given proper attention, it opens and shows a beating heart where each single nuance and plucked note is a part of the formula. A stunning sound that’s rare and addictive, and seriously compelling.
Check out Derek’s previous features here.
