Reviews

Efrem Schulz’s unique voice has always set Death By Stereo apart from the punk rock pack, but this set of dark metal leaning tunes enlarges the distance. Gone are the pop-punk accouterments of backing whoas, and in their stead are gothed out chant-like back ups. Gone also is former bass player (and kick-ass artist/engineer/producer) Paul Miner. So what is left of DBS?  Efrem and his voice and his moh- wait, no he shaved off his mohawk. This is obviously a portent of a strange and terrifying era, and Death For Life is a new, darker, harder, somehow less appealing chapter in the DBS saga.
 
On Death For Life, guitarist Dan Palmer stalks up and down his fretboard, hunting the perfect riff, but all too often forsaking the overall song structure for yet another raging guitar solo. This pattern does not uniformly affect all the songs - the first minute of Don’t Piss On My Neck And Tell Me It’s Raining is a subdued melodic experiment in blandness, and then of course there’s Forever And A Day. Forever And A Day (no, not the amazing late nineties Eulogy Records emo outfit) is billed as “the band’s first ever ballad,” and holy shit it sucks. Efrem croons and wails over fuzzy guitars, slow drums, and a string section.  Imagine the sound of live horses being made into glue at half speed and you begin to get the idea.  Ouch.
 
There are some great parts to Death For Life, where the new direction jells and just makes sense. The dark metal guitar noodling at the onset of the standout track W.W.J.D.? sets the manic tempo and darkened mood very accurately. The song Forget Regret has a great mid tempo chorus, but it too gives way to boring repetitive guitars. Also, the opener Binge/Purge begins on such a good, solid DBS foot that it’s impossible to discount the entire album.
 
All told - Death By Stereo has changed. They are darker, faster, more given to a raging guitar solo blast than a crush part, but that’s evolution for you. Fans of DBS will totally dig this, as it is a well recorded and visually gorgeous album. But for skeptics out there, you might love it but you could just as easily be turned off to the sound.