Greetings tech fiends, it's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's column, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking to find even more sick bands, you can do so here.
We're back with another premiere for you all today from yet another great band. Today's premiere is for Derelict (formerly) based out of Montréal, with the members now spread out across the globe, for their first song in ten years, "Clear Cut." Derelict has been around since 2005 and to date has dropped three excellent full-lengths steeped in the unique Québécois technical death metal sound. The band went on hiatus after 2012, with its members going on to be a part of other fantastic groups including Killitorous, Samskaras, Unburnt, and The Unconscious Mind.
Today, the band signals their return with the launch of "Clear Cut". Mixing lightning-quick technical death metal with progressive death metal, impressive audible bass playing, numerous heavy nasty groove excursions, and thrashy gallop-centric sounding riffs all of which coalesce together smoothly into a concise song often bordering on damn near catchy. It's a bit hard for me to compare the band's sound to anyone else specifically but suffice to say Derelict has always had a diverse take on technical death metal. In particular, I'm still a huge fan of their second album, Unspoken Words from 2009 as well as their third album, Perpetuation which dropped in 2012.
The band's vocalist and guitarist Eric Burnet kindly shared with us that "Clear Cut" is about more than just getting the band back together. "When I was writing the lyrics for this song, I was paying attention to the footage and news that was coming out of Wet'suwet'en territory. The militarized raids, the RCMP chainsawing through a cabin door and pointing rifles at protestors… Derelict's lyrics have always been generally political, but this time I wanted to be specific. This is about the people who are saying "no" to environmental and cultural destruction in the name of profit. It's about the hypocrisy of Canada claiming that reconciliation is a priority while actually putting the needs of capital and industry before people and the ecosystem. The readiness and even enthusiasm that some elements of Canadian society seem to have for using force against groups and movements that don't align with the mainstream nationalistic narrative is frankly terrifying."
In a certain sense, "Clear Cut" feels like a throwback to a sound you don't hear much anymore and I think that really helps it to stick out in today's crowded tech-death scene. I'd also suggest checking out the band's prior efforts and other projects their members are in (listed above) if you're looking to find more great music. All proceeds from "Clear Cut" will be donated to the land defenders and water protectors of Wet'suwet'en. You can find more information about this ongoing crisis here and check out more music made to raise awareness for this cause here.
