Dead By Wednesday – Death Of The Rockstar

You ever hear a band and just ask yourself, “How the hell did I MISS this?” Then you find out this is actually their FOURTH release and you feel even dumber? Well if you have, then you’ll know exactly what I’m going through with Connecticut metallers DEAD BY WEDNESDAY. This is one hell of a fucking band that I can’t believe flew under my radar for this long. Hey, I may be here late, but I got here as soon as I could! Their new EP Death of the Rockstar comes out on June 24 via Ear One Productions and it is a five-song doozy that I find myself playing over and over, especially at night. Dunno what that has to do with things, just thought I’d share.

I don’t even know how to best describe this band because there’s a ton of sounds going on. First you’ve got some serious metal with opening track “Death of the Rockstar”. This is all spewed venom and a rather accurate depiction of the dying music industry of today, vocalist Joseph Lee Morbidelli going off like a Glock emptying its clip. On “When in Rome” the tempo is ground down some and the chorus is one of lush harmonies and cleans over a combo of Mike Modeste’s bass and Joey Concepcion’s guitar. “Left For Dead” punches with precision thanks to Opus the drummer being in attack mode, heavy snare hits, double kick drum action and a few blast beats all happening in a span of four minutes.

Just when you think you’ve got DEAD BY WEDNESDAY figured out they throw a curveball like the first minute of “Shipwrecked” at you. I thought for sure I was in for an almost doom-like tune and imagine my pleasant surprise to get a punk-flavored shredder. Oh, and about 30 seconds later Mr. Modeste gives us a healthy dose of slap bass just in case you weren’t paying attention, which is pretty much impossible to be honest. The final song “Slores” is a bit of a head-scratcher for me. There are parts of it I really loved and others, one in particular that had me wondering if they really belonged. Not a bad song, just pales in comparison to the other tracks.

All told, consider me a BIG fan of DEAD BY WEDNESDAY from here on out. Once again Death of the Rockstar is out on June 24. If you’re looking for metal with some serious balls that isn’t afraid to take some chances, then this is a record for you.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Left For Dead”, “Shipwrecked”, “Death of the Rockstar”

RATING: 4/5