Death By Stereo: Death Is My Only Friend

There are always crimes in people's past, it just a question of knowing where to look. For Death by Stereo front-man Efrem Schultz, you don't have to look far.

In the space of five years he worked with both Atreyu and Aiden. It might be time to win back some of that credibility. Which is where Death is My Only Friend comes in...

One thing DBS have never been, is focused. Their sonic aura reads like a table tennis tournament, flitting between hardcore, punk, metal and pop with the speed of a howitzer-fired cow. Amalgamate they don't, with Death Is My Only Friend, it's a case of "here's the metal-core bit, there's the hardcore-punk, this is our boomstick and there's the lovely vocal harmony which designates the chorus".

What this basically translates to is a serious case of the when-it's-bad-it's-damn-awful syndrome. We'll present the example of "Forever and a Day", where Schultz sounds like Chad Kroeger covering an Enrique Iglesias song. Then there is the abysmal lyricism of "D.B.S.F.U" (gee, guess what that means, it's no F.C.P.S.I.T.S.G.E.P.G.E.P.G.E.P.) which one ups the previous Chad Kroeger comparison by including lyrics worthy of a Puddle of Mudd shout-out. "Love to see tomorrow, but today may be my last / You say 'it's time to grow up', I'd rather die so kiss my ass." Where did we put that Howitzer?

Then, there are the pure metal moments, "The Last Song" brings on the Metallica similarities. The moody arpeggiated guitar intro, the James Hetfield vocal stylings, the thirty-second guitar solo. All punk influence is completely stripped away. Regardless of the relative merits of the song, you just feel as if someone snuck a song by an altogether different band onto the album.

If populating hardcore-punk land, the boys are hard to top. "Opening Destruction", "I Sing For You", "We Sing Today For a Better Tomorrow" and "For All My Friends" blister the skin with unrelenting typhoons of energising raucousness. As for the rest of the album, it seems to take delight in the very tropes which hardcore-punk stood against.

This paints a confused, yet frequently impressive picture of their first post-Epitaph album.