Dead By Wednesday
Dead By Wednesday
Combat Records / EMP Label Group
2019
Dead By Wednesday is a 4 piece heavy metal group from the east coast. Established in 2006 by drummer Opus (ex-Gargantua Soul and current U.S. touring drummer for David Ellefson of Megadeth and Altitudes & Attitude featuring Frank Bello of Anthrax), along with Rob Roy on vocals, Mike Modeste on bass and Dave Sharpe on guitar. As one would expect, this is thrashy and raw with barely a BPM spared.
With the introductions being said, let’s get down to the tracks.
“Vekja (The Awakening)”: This 2 minute intro opens the album with a Slayer-esque eerie sound, falling right into a full “metal march” rhythm, which leads to “Smelling Salts”. Rob opens it up acapella followed by a driven rhythm seconds later. As this song unwinds, the music reminds us of 80s thrash and clashing mosh pits. The pre chorus allows you to take a quick breath, before it jumps right back in.
“(un)FTW”: Leading it off with a cymbal ride and single channel guitar, it explodes into the main riff quickly. Rob’s gutsy Phil Anselmo-like vocals make you reminisce of the Pantera days, but DBW drives you into the present with its progressions throughout the track.
“You & Die” is a showcase song, with its melodies and guitar harmonies. The leads in the song are erratic; but never distract you from the overall composition of the track. Very impressive work on this song!
“Manimal”: Back to the brutal core of the album, “Manimal” brings you full circle. With angry vocals and pounding riffs, this one will get your blood to boil.
“Darwin’s Dance (Pt.1)”: As the energy doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon, this track still drives the train at full speed. Now, we are hearing a mix of Pantera meets Slipknot, which almost gives you an “ear aneurysm”. The shift in tempo is refreshing throughout the track.
“Darwin’s Demise (Pt.2)”: Walking into this track, the tribal undertones are slowly devoured by the staccato beatings of the band’s relentless playing. There are nice harmonies peppered throughout the track, which blends very well.
“Chrysalis” drops a heavy gallup riff in the intro, with Rob building up into his scream, like he’s slowly losing his mind during the verse. There is a lot of strong material throughout this song, and dropping in the small bass riffs were a cool touch.
“Beatdown & Broken” begins with a heavy and solid riff, and slides into a slow build up to the chorus. This cut allows the senses to feel the buildup. Again very progressive.
“Out The Door”: The swamp rock intro falls right into yet another modern prog metal verse, which transitions flawlessly. This one was a hard one to figure out. There are so many influences that show up throughout this album. The progressions and cool changes throughout the song give this song a ton of heart.
“Break When I’m Dead”: The frantic beginning of this track, all I can say is… BRING IT!!! The mechanical riffs are only cut through by Rob’s chainsaw like vocals on this cut. The range and versatility in his vocals are very apparent. Digging the Dime meets Zakk solo work!
“You & Die (Acoustic)”: Running on the acoustic side of, what I can say, my favorite on the album, is a good cool down version. Definitely shows the versatility of the band as a whole.
“S.O.D.” (bonus track): Surprisingly, I thought this was going to be the “Stormtroopers of Death”. I was wrong. This is DBW “Low” version of Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”. Different, to say the least.
“Unchained” (bonus track): DBW’s take on the Van Halen song. You could almost say they stripped the skin off of the “Ol’ boys” with their cover of this! A metal version of “Unchained”… Who would have thought!
“The Surgeon” (Acoustic demo – bonus track): Almost sounding a bit like a Godsmack “B-Sides” album cut, this track hold the mysticism well. The guitar transitions between verse and chorus blend very well and as you go into the chorus, the synth-strings build up the song, in order to subtly go back into the next verse.
As one would expect, Dead By Wednesday’s self-titled album is thrashy and raw with barely a BPM spared, but with a modern prog metal edge and a great musicianship to boot.
PS: The bonus tracks are featured on the Limited Edition Vinyl LP re-release.
With the introductions being said, let’s get down to the tracks.
“Vekja (The Awakening)”: This 2 minute intro opens the album with a Slayer-esque eerie sound, falling right into a full “metal march” rhythm, which leads to “Smelling Salts”. Rob opens it up acapella followed by a driven rhythm seconds later. As this song unwinds, the music reminds us of 80s thrash and clashing mosh pits. The pre chorus allows you to take a quick breath, before it jumps right back in.
“(un)FTW”: Leading it off with a cymbal ride and single channel guitar, it explodes into the main riff quickly. Rob’s gutsy Phil Anselmo-like vocals make you reminisce of the Pantera days, but DBW drives you into the present with its progressions throughout the track.
“You & Die” is a showcase song, with its melodies and guitar harmonies. The leads in the song are erratic; but never distract you from the overall composition of the track. Very impressive work on this song!
“Manimal”: Back to the brutal core of the album, “Manimal” brings you full circle. With angry vocals and pounding riffs, this one will get your blood to boil.
“Darwin’s Dance (Pt.1)”: As the energy doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon, this track still drives the train at full speed. Now, we are hearing a mix of Pantera meets Slipknot, which almost gives you an “ear aneurysm”. The shift in tempo is refreshing throughout the track.
“Darwin’s Demise (Pt.2)”: Walking into this track, the tribal undertones are slowly devoured by the staccato beatings of the band’s relentless playing. There are nice harmonies peppered throughout the track, which blends very well.
“Chrysalis” drops a heavy gallup riff in the intro, with Rob building up into his scream, like he’s slowly losing his mind during the verse. There is a lot of strong material throughout this song, and dropping in the small bass riffs were a cool touch.
“Beatdown & Broken” begins with a heavy and solid riff, and slides into a slow build up to the chorus. This cut allows the senses to feel the buildup. Again very progressive.
“Out The Door”: The swamp rock intro falls right into yet another modern prog metal verse, which transitions flawlessly. This one was a hard one to figure out. There are so many influences that show up throughout this album. The progressions and cool changes throughout the song give this song a ton of heart.
“Break When I’m Dead”: The frantic beginning of this track, all I can say is… BRING IT!!! The mechanical riffs are only cut through by Rob’s chainsaw like vocals on this cut. The range and versatility in his vocals are very apparent. Digging the Dime meets Zakk solo work!
“You & Die (Acoustic)”: Running on the acoustic side of, what I can say, my favorite on the album, is a good cool down version. Definitely shows the versatility of the band as a whole.
“S.O.D.” (bonus track): Surprisingly, I thought this was going to be the “Stormtroopers of Death”. I was wrong. This is DBW “Low” version of Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”. Different, to say the least.
“Unchained” (bonus track): DBW’s take on the Van Halen song. You could almost say they stripped the skin off of the “Ol’ boys” with their cover of this! A metal version of “Unchained”… Who would have thought!
“The Surgeon” (Acoustic demo – bonus track): Almost sounding a bit like a Godsmack “B-Sides” album cut, this track hold the mysticism well. The guitar transitions between verse and chorus blend very well and as you go into the chorus, the synth-strings build up the song, in order to subtly go back into the next verse.
As one would expect, Dead By Wednesday’s self-titled album is thrashy and raw with barely a BPM spared, but with a modern prog metal edge and a great musicianship to boot.
PS: The bonus tracks are featured on the Limited Edition Vinyl LP re-release.