I Am Dead

In the late 90s, the era that the success of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson had made industrial music about as close to mainstream as it ever came, I visited the college that I eventually attended and happened to stay that night with a die-hard industrial fan -- one who had a lot more dark electronic bands in his collection than just Top 40 hit-makers. To my delight, my host left his vast MP3 collection running on low volume 24/7, resulting in distorted voices whispering a demented lullaby of of hate, suicide, and agony to a background of buzzing electronica and feedback-layered guitars all night. Today I came across Florida-based Dead Dark Slide's latest LP, the quite to-the-point I Am Dead, which would have fit in perfectly on that guy's dorm-room soundtrack -- and is quite likely to appeal to a metal listener. Like the album cover, the songs capture the essences of 90s-era goth/industrial metal quite well; for one thing, the production is garbage. The Seas Are Black's abrasive guitars power-chord their way alongside an organ-synth keyboard and one of the vilest drum recordings I've ever heard; it sounds like Ryan Michalski, the man behind Dead Dark Slide, is miking garbage can lids and Tupperware bins and then applying a reverb effect to the result. The vocals are harsh and reminiscent of black metal, and so, for that matter, are the guitar riffs. Just Die is more guitar-driven, with a much more repetitive verse, but a melodic chorus filled with a sullen rage that makes it all worth it. Your Blood Runs Red is a slower marching beat with a cold background of synth chords, but the lyrics aren't as clever and the vocals lose a lot of their effectiveness whenever they're shouted instead of whispered. Summer Never Ends, though still using louder vocals, has a chorus that reduces Michalski's shout to the sort of choked-out scream that one would expect out of Trent Reznor, making it one of the better ones on this album. As a closing track, we have Watching You Bleed, sounding in terms of rhythm and song naming scheme like a companion song to Your Blood Runs Red, but this one's a lot more focused; Michalski puts in his finest vocal performance on the track's chorus, and it pays off, making him sound simultaneously menacing and agonized. I Am Dead's guitar-driven industrial sound isn't for all metal listeners, but fans of lo-fi black metal will enjoy this, as well as fans of Ministry, a clear influence of theirs. The driving power and atmosphere of the songs is only enhanced by the poor production and rarely stumbles on any track.