Dropdead - 2020 lp

Dropdead - 2020 lp

"From the opening tandem of “Prelude” and “Torches,” two things are immediately clear: First and foremost, Dropdead didn’t come to screw around; they came loaded and ready to fight. They’re still as formidable a fast-and-furious hardcore band as they have ever been, although anyone who’s kept up with them through the small slew of splits and short-form releases they’ve spit out in that twenty-one year layoff should already know that.

Musically, Dropdead 2020 presents no real surprises: It’s a stellar hardcore record, from a band that’s released only stellar hardcore across three decades now. These songs are short sharp shocks, twenty-three of them in twenty-four minutes, all of it filled with righteous anger and seemingly boundless energy. Bob Otis’ bark is biting, snarling, feral, while Ben Barnett rips through classic-styled punk riffs in the vein of classics like Siege, Larm, Anti-Cimex, et al. The rhythm section of Brian Mastrobuono and George Radford propels the entire affair with a finely-tuned chaotic control. Dropdead is raw and primal, but they are not sloppy, whether operating at a relatively contained crossover charge or at near-grindcore aggression. Produced by Converge guitarist and hardcore go-to-guy Kurt Ballou, Dropdead 2020 sounds perfectly powerful and powerfully perfect, stout and furious without being overly polished, its fury palpable in its sonics. These tracks may fly by in a whirlwind of speeding and screaming, but they leave bruises as they go, evident in the hooky groove of “Torches,” the repeated “You’re on your knees / get off your knees!” of “God Illusion,” the call-to-action of “the time is now” in “Will You Fight,” and dozens more places that reveal themselves to you when you listen often and loudly."  - Andew Edmunds