Dropdead – S/T LP (Armageddon)

Dropdead has recorded a brand new material for their upcoming third full-length album! The group directly orchestrated in shaping the powerviolence as the genre, but also stayed devoted to the hardcore punk roots. It’s been 22 years since Dropdead released their second album. In the meantime, the group played shows and delivered dozens of split releases with bands such as Totalitar, Systematic Death, Brainoil, Ruidosa Inmundicia, Converge, Unholy Grave, and Look Back And Laugh. The group also published Arms Race EP, including a cover song of a legendary Dutch hardcore punk band BGK. Then, the group released Nothing Remains flexi 7” as part of the Decibel Series and a demo cassette as part of the stolen van fundraiser. This particular demo cassette indicated that a brand new material was just right behind the corner.

Like their previous full-lengths, this particular recording is also self-titled. The group solely focuses on the compositions instead of belting the complete album under a singular theme. Dropdead always nurtured the direct lyrical approach by covering issues such as animal rights, the rising wave of right-wing organizations, political climates on the worldwide scale, harmful usage of nuclear power, police oppression, mass media manipulation, etc. Their music warned us about Orwellian / Huxley dystopian future we’re currently heading to, and a vast portion of their lyrics precedes its time. Dropdead advocates animal rights, veganism, anarchism, antifascism, sexual diversity, equality, individualism through their songs by criticizing the past and present events, but also offers possible solutions as prevention to similar circumstances in the nearest future.

That’s the case with their newest material as well, but Bob Otis changed the approach to his duties a little bit, so the lyrics are vividly understandable throughout the complete album. At this particular album, Dropdead covers current events across the United States and offers their opinion about the cause and possible outcome. Despite calming down his vocal expression, Bob’s voice still sounds feral, threatening, and his voice perfectly applies over the current musical direction of the group. Musicwise, Dropdead provides another dosage of blistering hardcore punk sound, decorated by profound experimentations with powerviolence, grindcore, and fastcore.

Comparing to their previous albums, Dropdead provides the almost identical sonic ravaging through characteristic guitar shreds. The precision of the group lays deep inside ferocious riffages that are submitting more than a simplistic hardcore punk music. Perhaps their music leans towards powerviolence and grindcore, but Dropdead always carried a specific dosage of anarcho and crust punk aesthetics in their music. The completely distorted bass guitar contributes another layer of cacophony and gives more guts to the overall listening experience. Nothing would sound so maniacal without a recognizable drumming performance, highlighted by a constant chaotical splashing over the cymbals. Tremendous production intensifies all the elements and brings each instrument on an entirely new level. Therefore, the complete albums seems to be more powerful, with all the participants being equally present in the mix.

Dropdead sounds better than ever, and their latest offering to the broader audience liberates enough power to tear down everything in a wider radius. It’s a proper extension of their previous recordings and serves as a powerful document of the group that stood the test of time. The album is currently available for pre-order at their Bandcamp page. There is no current information about the possible physical release, but I assume there will be a vinyl version available at the Armageddon Shop.