Derelict Crawl” by The House Flies: Dark Post-Punk for Anyone Who Feels Out of Place
There’s something about being in the midst of crowded room. You get this creeping feeling in the middle of a crowd, where you look around and realize you do not fit in at all. It’s very weird, you stand there quietly, holding your drink, watching everyone talk about random stuff while your mind wanders somewhere else entirely. At that moment the feeling is crazy, you wish you could just disappear or slip out the side door, step into the cool night air, and head back home.
Now that heavy, uncomfortable feeling forms the backbone of “Derelict Crawl“, the single from Midwestern dark alternative band The House Flies. The guys from Moline, Illinois, is a four-piece band who has given us a single that delivers a punchy preview of their album “Lions and Ore“. The song doesn’t waste time and drops you right into a moody, dark guitar groove that feels both urgent and impossible to ignore. Now that’s something I like, it’s delicate, intentional and really atmospheric!
The song “Derelict Crawl” grabs your attention right away with its tight, driving post-punk arrangement. If you look at the themes it explores, some would have hid behind soft acoustic sounds, but this track jumps straight in with a steady, relentless drum beat from Nick Pompou. Then you’ve got Ozzie Woods layering a thick, throbbing bassline right on top, giving the rhythm section a heavy floor to walk on. Guitarists Alex Riggen and Burnie Eckhardt stack wall-to-wall guitar tones that build a wall of dark electricity around the beat.
See I enjoyed the instrumentation Soo much I had it on repeat, it gives off vibes like The police ‘every breath you take’. The lyric video that comes with the song is also magnificent, it allows you to focus on the track and enjoy it’s atmospheric nature whilst knowing what it’s saying. One thing the song does that I like Soo much is how it smartly uses dynamic drops, cutting back the noisy guitars during quieter sections to give Alex’s clear, grounded vocal delivery room to breathe. When the full band kicks back in, the contrast hits like a cold wave of water. Oh sweet Jesus, this is good.
“Derelict Crawl” tackles alienation, modern fatigue, and that nagging feeling of being an outsider. This has become very often, is that we are overburdened? Overworked? Or society is demanding too much for nothing? Or we just don’t belong? The lyrics paint gritty pictures of buzzing dial tones, worn-out leather, heavy summer heat, and feeling physically exhausted by everything around you. As the band builds up the noise, the main phrase repeats like a heavy chant, ‘We don’t belong.’ It delivers a raw, honest take about accepting that sometimes you don’t just fit into cookie-cutter molds. And that’s also okay.
It’s a song that doesn’t try to offer fake, happy solutions like how our world has turned into these days. Instead, it lets you sit inside that dark mood, turn up the volume, and find comfort knowing you ain’t the only one who feels out of place. The House Flies has crafted a gritty, infectious winner with “Derelict Crawl“. It combines classic dark alternative energy with a relentless beat that keeps your head nodding from start to finish. So hit the play button and enjoy some lovely guitar-heavy post-punk with a sharp edge and a a theme you can relate to!
Enjoy More from The House Flies here;
English