Death By Stereo - Death Is My Only Friend
Rating
RIYL
AtreyuSystem of a Down
Avenged Sevenfold
Strung Out
Release Date
07/07/2009
Label
Serjical StrikeTracklist
1. Opening Destruction - 3:002. The Ballad Of Sid Dynamite - 3:10
3. I Sing For You - 3:50
4. The Last Song - 3:49
5. Bread For The Dead - 3:08
6. Dead To Me - 3:03
7. Forever And A Day - 4:50
8. Wake The Dead - 3:02
9. I Got Your Back - 3:31
10. Who Should Die? You Should Die - 3:07
11. We Sing Today For A Better Tomorrow - 3:42
12. D.B.S.F.U. - 3:18
13. Welcome To The Party - 3:16
14. Fear Of A Brown Planet - 1:44
15. For All My Friends (The Unity) - 3:40
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In 1999, Death By Stereo released If Looks Could Kill I’d Watch You Die, an album held in high regard in the hardcore community. The album is known for its raw sound, lightning fast tempo changes and an original sound the genre had yet to encounter. Death By Stereo took the scene by storm and set a standard for all bands of their kind. Now, ten years after the conception of their celebrated debut, this five-piece So-Cal outfit is releasing their fifth studio album Death is my Only Friend. Corny name? Yes! But what’s that old saying… if the shoe fits, wear it? Well Prince Charming has found their glass slipper and by the looks of it, it was hanging out at Hot Topic with the rest of the loser scenesters. This album is by far one of the corniest, most disappointing and ghastly efforts released to the airwaves that I have ever heard. What I’m trying to say is that after this album reaches the masses, death will in fact, be their only friend, because no one else will want to be.
“Opening Destruction” starts off with a solid thirty seconds of promising aggression then very quickly transfers to complete drivel. The song should actually be dubbed “Self Destruction” because the song completely falls apart. However, it does do one thing very well -- lowers our expectations for the rest of the album. Next in line to give us a stomach ulcer is “The Ballad of Sid Dynamite”. This gem starts off with a stomp-o-rific riff, perfect for the nu-metal-heads to start a push pit to. The hook is somewhat akin to the sounds of Ignite, which I would be pissed about if I were them because DBS takes the sound and meshes it with some garbage Avenged Sevenfold / Atreyu nonsense. Actually, the entire album follows the same formula: start off by sounding angry, then lead into some crappy hook that sounds like radio friendly nu-metal. Seems fairly simple, right?
After the above-mentioned tracks, there are several more songs to gag to and then comes the worst song Death By Stereo has ever written. Track seven, “Forever And A Day,” is almost five minutes of piano ballad rock, which is cool if you’re Motley Crue. Vocalist Efrem Schulz “pours” his heart out on this track all while polluting our ear canals. The music on this track is less than mediocre and Schulz sounds like he was constipated during the recording process. Maybe he should go back and listen to this track, it may help him relieve himself. After “Forever And A Day” the album takes an odd turn and the songs begin to sound like classic DBS… sort of. “We Sing Today For A Better Tomorrow” is fast and aggressive and Schulz’s vocals are on point. There’s no corny lyrical content or cheesy hooks on this track, so it's actually a decent song. The only problem is that it gets lost in the sea of crap that surrounds it.
The last “honorable” mention on this album is the final tack, “For All My Friends (The Unity Song)”. It is sixty seconds of pure comedic gold! The band takes every kind of racial slur and politically incorrect term imaginable and throws them all together, calling themselves friends with these certain groups of people, while bellowing they will “stand up against you.” Assuming “you” means the bigots in today’s society, Death By Stereo has taken a very new approach to calling them out. I’m not really sure it’s acceptable for me to quote anything they spew out in this song, so you’re going to have to look it up yourself. But hey, if shock factor is what DBS is aiming for to try and help stop the hate in this world, I guess they did their job.
The point I am trying to make is very simple; this album is a huge letdown. Death By Stereo used to be considered a staple in the punk and hardcore communities. However, now… not so much. Leaving Epitaph and signing to Serj Tankian of System Of A Down’s label might attest to why their sound has become very similar to the sounds of Papa Roach and Avenged Sevenfold. This album will leave long time fans scratching their head in confusion and humility. It seems as though Death By Stereo is taking a whole new approach to their music in which money means more than heart. There is, in fact, one positive aspect to this recording… I now have a place to set my Busch pounder!
--Bill Lohr
Comments
Minnesota
Yeah, not a great album, but I don't think it's quite as bad as recent Atreyu or A7X. It's not much better, mind you, but just not as terrible as either of them :-)
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Lehigh Valley, PA
It's soooooooo bad. I just could not believe that they were doing it. I used to love this band.
Dallas, Texas
I love this band. Haven't heard this yet. That bad, huh? Now I'll wait a bit longer.
West Haven, CT
Great CD art.
The Cityscape Burns Brighter By The Hour.
Wilmington DE
I only listened to like two songs on their myspace page from this album but from what ive heard it doesn't sound that different from their last two albums.
Listening to:
Tides of Man
Oceansize
The Contortionist
We are the City
Periphery
Lehigh Valley, PA
I REALLY hope you are kidding. This album art is horrible. It's cliche, corny and ridiculous.
It does kind of sound like their last two albums, which is a problem. In my opinion their last good album was Day of the Death.