So, I’m sifting through my shelves of vinyl the other day, pulling out Mylar sleeved 12” discs of bands like Forbidden, Hirax, Nuclear Assault, and Armored Saint, and I’m teleported back to a time when my biggest concerns were passing algebra. Ah . . . good times. I remember waking up on test day in absolute terror like it was this morning. Tangent check . . . mixed in with all of this great late 80’s thrash metal or crossover punk stuff was a band that I had damn near forgotten about. DBC’s first album, Dead Brain Cells, was released in 1987 and was rife with music that mixed hard edged thrash groove tempos and socio-political lyrics. Then to shake things up and show that they weren’t some poor man’s D.R.I. knock off, the band threw in some off time, almost jazzy portions to their compositions. You know, just enough nuance to keep you guessing. Unrelenting in sonic brutality, uncompromising in musical vision, and a scathing vocal diatribe that brings Reagan-era headlines of every newspaper screaming back to the moment. This album transcended every other album that had come out at that time (bold statement, yes) by incorporating the aforementioned musical qualities, but more importantly, following the shrill screams of their inner muse. The most concise way that I can think of describing Dead Brain Cells, and DBC as a band, is progressive hardcore. That may not sound like such an off the wall description these days, but in 1987 . . . prog and hardcore were oil and water.This beast kicks off with an epic, patient, and well thought out instrumental intro that builds a wall of tension so thick that the explosion of speed metal fury that follows practically hurls the listener through said wall to one last waltz with oblivion. Masterfully executed, “Deadlock” plows forward with an intense combination of knuckle dragging aggression and cerebral composition. In fact, the music and lyrics contain an intelligence that was unique to that day and age of metal. One eye focused on the outside world, the other eye focused on, “What if?” “Deadlock” contains fabulous lyrics that hold true as much today as they did during the Cold War of U.S. and U.S.S.R. relations. Both sides digging in for their ideology and refusing to simply listen to their counterpart regardless of how many people had to suffer due to this stubbornness. Bassist / vocalist Phil Dakin not only wrote some poignant lyrics here, he also verbalized them with the perfect amount of venom and cynicism to capture the mood as well as one could. Musically, the tune is also a gem, what with its dips and dives, stops and starts, musical virtuosity and acrobatics . . . this is why I refer to the band as progressive hardcore. Abrasive with its aggression yet thought provoking and complex.
Before you can catch your breath, DBC kick into the brutally beautiful sound orgy of “Monument.” Scattered off time breaks and senses shattering guitar work create a musical backdrop for lyrics facing mortality and remembrance once we’re dead and gone. Pay attention to the performance from drummer Jeff St. Louis as he propels this tune through the stratosphere, keeping the whole thing together by sheer force of will. The time changes are enough to confuse Chronos himself! Double bass drums grind out most of the rhythm, but note his approach to the snare attack and how he accents the notes of the riffs, making the tune so damn powerful and elegant.
When I was first introduced to this album, I was sold on the idea that DBC were in league with such classic crossover punk bands as Suicidal Tendencies or D.R.I., and though not nearly as straight forward as those aforementioned bands, DBC do capture some of those hardcore qualities with tunes like “Lies” and “Power and Corruption.” Up tempo and speedy, yet laced with a low end groove to get the body swaying, DBC bring a healthy load of high energy thrash to the music. Keeping it hard enough to please the punks, but technically proficient enough to make the more traditional metal heads nod with approval. Amazingly, it’s been nearly twenty years since I last heard this album and as soon as these songs came on, I remembered all of the subtleties within the music. The vocals, lyrics and intonations as they’re spewed from Dakin’s mouth, the breaks, the stops, the fills, the spills . . . all of it! Old friend, I missed you!
Besides “Deadlock,” the tune “Public Suicide” probably best epitomizes what DBC does best. Opening with a highly technical metalized intro filled with a combination of frenzied bursts of notes and enough open space to let the notes shine, we can hear how the band isn’t afraid to let their musicality stand before their walls of dissonant sound. Listen out for the bass work around the 40 second mark and how Dakin lets the distortion ring out, groovin’ to its own melody and adding a great texture to the layers of guitars underneath it. Coming out of that intro, all hell breaks loose as the band drops into another high speed passage of destruction, revisiting the intro to make sure that we haven’t forgotten how this whole thing started.
From top to bottom, Dead Brain Cells will kick your head in. “Negative Reinforcement,” “M.I.A.,” “Terrorist Mind,” and “Tempest” all stand out and feel as important today as they did in 1987. With the exception of “Tempest,” each song deals with a variety of themes such as the Vietnam War, terrorism (remember, it existed before 9/11,) suicide, drug abuse, war, and so on. The social consciousness drew me to the lyrics in the first place and made me realize way back in the day that it was okay to be intelligent. It was okay to care about the world I lived in. It was okay to be pissed at the world leaders for fucking things up. Truth be told, the themes still hold true to today, it’s just that we have different players on the field than we did in the 80’s. Instead of Vietnam, now we have Iraq and Afghanistan. We still have a massive suicide rate. We still have a huge rate of homicide raging uncontrolled through this country. People are still addicted to drugs, but instead of it being solely something fun like cocaine, its steroids, and heroin, meth, and prescription pills. Things haven’t really gotten all that much better, have they? Dead Brain Cells easily goes down as one of my all time favorite recordings not just because of the subject matter, but also because it was performed with an energy that is real and just as venomous as the lyrics. Brains and brawn? You betcha’! And if you think this is heady stuff, wait 'til we get to Universe!- Pope JTE
Buy here: DEAD BRAIN CELLS [LP VINYL]
Before you can catch your breath, DBC kick into the brutally beautiful sound orgy of “Monument.” Scattered off time breaks and senses shattering guitar work create a musical backdrop for lyrics facing mortality and remembrance once we’re dead and gone. Pay attention to the performance from drummer Jeff St. Louis as he propels this tune through the stratosphere, keeping the whole thing together by sheer force of will. The time changes are enough to confuse Chronos himself! Double bass drums grind out most of the rhythm, but note his approach to the snare attack and how he accents the notes of the riffs, making the tune so damn powerful and elegant. When I was first introduced to this album, I was sold on the idea that DBC were in league with such classic crossover punk bands as Suicidal Tendencies or D.R.I., and though not nearly as straight forward as those aforementioned bands, DBC do capture some of those hardcore qualities with tunes like “Lies” and “Power and Corruption.” Up tempo and speedy, yet laced with a low end groove to get the body swaying, DBC bring a healthy load of high energy thrash to the music. Keeping it hard enough to please the punks, but technically proficient enough to make the more traditional metal heads nod with approval. Amazingly, it’s been nearly twenty years since I last heard this album and as soon as these songs came on, I remembered all of the subtleties within the music. The vocals, lyrics and intonations as they’re spewed from Dakin’s mouth, the breaks, the stops, the fills, the spills . . . all of it! Old friend, I missed you!
Besides “Deadlock,” the tune “Public Suicide” probably best epitomizes what DBC does best. Opening with a highly technical metalized intro filled with a combination of frenzied bursts of notes and enough open space to let the notes shine, we can hear how the band isn’t afraid to let their musicality stand before their walls of dissonant sound. Listen out for the bass work around the 40 second mark and how Dakin lets the distortion ring out, groovin’ to its own melody and adding a great texture to the layers of guitars underneath it. Coming out of that intro, all hell breaks loose as the band drops into another high speed passage of destruction, revisiting the intro to make sure that we haven’t forgotten how this whole thing started.
From top to bottom, Dead Brain Cells will kick your head in. “Negative Reinforcement,” “M.I.A.,” “Terrorist Mind,” and “Tempest” all stand out and feel as important today as they did in 1987. With the exception of “Tempest,” each song deals with a variety of themes such as the Vietnam War, terrorism (remember, it existed before 9/11,) suicide, drug abuse, war, and so on. The social consciousness drew me to the lyrics in the first place and made me realize way back in the day that it was okay to be intelligent. It was okay to care about the world I lived in. It was okay to be pissed at the world leaders for fucking things up. Truth be told, the themes still hold true to today, it’s just that we have different players on the field than we did in the 80’s. Instead of Vietnam, now we have Iraq and Afghanistan. We still have a massive suicide rate. We still have a huge rate of homicide raging uncontrolled through this country. People are still addicted to drugs, but instead of it being solely something fun like cocaine, its steroids, and heroin, meth, and prescription pills. Things haven’t really gotten all that much better, have they? Dead Brain Cells easily goes down as one of my all time favorite recordings not just because of the subject matter, but also because it was performed with an energy that is real and just as venomous as the lyrics. Brains and brawn? You betcha’! And if you think this is heady stuff, wait 'til we get to Universe!- Pope JTE
Comments
I see your DBC, and will raise you a Zoetrope!
To this day, I've never heard Zoetrope. I will accept my floggings from whomever.
Pope