Speak for the Dead dropped their self-titled debut on December 10th. The band pulls from Discharge and Tragedy while mixing in the charged rock ‘n’ roll of Inepsy, Zeke, and Motörhead, with a dose of hardcore/thrash in the vein of Power Trip. The lineup consists of veteran musicians, former members of Thought Vomit, X-Method, Resilience, and Hatchet, who’ve shared stages with DRI, the Dwarves, Total Chaos, and a bunch of other touring acts over the years.
They’re flying the motorcharge flag, but the commitment to pushing boundaries is clear throughout the album. The sound balances the ominous with the uplifting, tackling socio-political and existential themes while staying anti-authority through and through. Speak for the Dead isn’t reinventing punk, but they’re doing something that feels both familiar and fresh.
The band uses audio samples humorously in a great way, as what I think is an old radio broadcast warning parents about the effects of violent music on their kids as a couple of songs’ intro. It’s not the only anti-establishment poke that the band makes in the album, but it’s certainly the most obvious one.
This onslaught of thrash goodness is a non-stop train on the railway to hell. It feels like it never stops to refuel, just relentlessly moving forward with no weak links; the vocals, drums, guitar, and bass all play their part to keep this train barrelling down the tracks. The highlight, in my opinion, is the latter half of the album, as the lyrics go into more existentialist territory with lyrics about how the earth is a floating dying ball, and that wars inside the mind are more brutal than ones fought outside of it.
Speaking of wars, of course, there is an anti-war song on this punk album, namely the title track. And what a song it is. It has the album’s best riffs. The riffs actually sound evil and very distinct from the Motorhead-esque or thrash riffs of the rest of the album. It’s undeniably heavy as the subject matter itself. The lyrics paint a gory picture of death on the battlefield, where soldiers and friends die for nothing. There is no heaven, and there is no reason for wars aside from man’s own greed. It’s definitely the most powerful song on the album.
For a debut, Speak for the Dead came out swinging hard. The band’s experience shows how tight everything sounds despite the raw energy. They’ve managed to make punk that’s filthy and fast without losing the plot lyrically or musically. The record doesn’t let up from start to finish, which is exactly what this kind of music needs to do, all thanks to the veteran lineup that brings a level of proficiency that keeps the album from falling into sloppy chaos, even when it’s at its most intense. The balance between political commentary and existential dread gives the album more depth than your average thrash record.
