WOW, WOW, WOW, I’m stoked on Nearly Dead’s latest, a grisly, grizzled gut-spew that hits like a Bugs And Rats record (which is shard-hard) and trades on husky narration that’s the closest thing I’ve heard to a Captain Beefheart stomach-growl since he passed. Drops of Red, which was pressed on red vinyl in a minuscule edition of 90 due to an under-run and is SOLD OUT as hell, still warrants mention because a). You can still get it on Bandcamp, and b). IT KILLS ASS (nope, no kickin’, just killin’). I’m guessing people will compare this to certain eras of SS Recs and such but I feel like, despite the familiar elements, there’s enough of a push of originality to bump Nearly Dead up a couple of rungs on the underground ladder. Hell, I’m trying to think of the last time, outside of the aforementioned Bugs/Rats stuff, I got ROCKED with this much surety (the Cerbs metal front has been nonexistent lately; what happened King of the Monsters? Handmade Birds? Tankcrimes? It’s all good tho, y’all rule.)… And is that a Mike Patton influence buried in there like a clue to a murder only one investigator in a hundred would see? Maybe. All I know is slow, plodding, mangled drum beats, a double-guitar attack only a mother could love (unless, overdubs?), and a bassist who could work in any city, any time due to his/her ability to stay in the pocket and wring every last bit of sustenance out of it. Back to the drummer: he crashes his cymbals, sure, but not too often considering the demands being put on his plate, namely to match the spiraling girth of the coruscating guitars and maintain a semblance of rhythm even as all devolves into dust. He does a bang-(that-drum)up job, lending pertinence to every face-stabbing lead and hallowed refrain of the storyteller-disguised-as-a-frontman Nearly Dead have manning the mic. Who is this guy anyway, and where did he get the nerve to talk like that over bangin’ drumz, bazz, geetr, and the occasional trumpet? He’s a sick bastard, and you’ll be a little sicker for knowing him, and that’s all well and good as far as I’m concerned. It’s high time you pulled yourself out of that ______ coma and indulged in old-fashioned, scud-bombing rock in the tradition of Cerberus favorites Shearing Pinx, care of Drop of Red. Again: don’t expect to snag the vinyl though, unless you want to pay $22 and easily as much shipping to get that dude from Finland to do you a Discogs solid. I say download it and demand a tape version from Geriatric; us old fogeys need physical matter!
More about: Nearly Dead
