Obituary's new album Dying Of Everything comes in at a blistering pace with its opener "Barely Alive," which as it turns out is the band's fastest song to date. In an interview with Blabbermouth, drummer Donald Tardy said he was feeling pretty good in the studio recording the song, but jokes that maybe it was a misstep now that he's got to play it every night.
So basically Tardy feels the same way about "Barely Alive" that Tomas Haake feels about "Bleed." Sorry, dude.
"It is. And what the hell am I thinking at my age? [Laughs] That was fun in the studio. I was excited — my feet are the fastest in my career for whatever reason. Maybe it's muscle memory or playing drums for 40 years. I hope to get better. During the writing process and just jamming and the pandemic and being home, I felt how fast my feet felt. I'm a fast-talking, fast-thinking, hyper-annoying kind of guy in general. My band would attest to that. [Laughs]
"I knew it. I told Trevor, 'I don't know what Angel Of Death or Raining Blood BPMs are. Lord knows Lombardo is flying.' Two-hundred BPM is what 'Barely Alive' is. For me, that is full-throttle, all cylinders firing. I'm a caveman behind the drumkit. Someone like Dave from Psycroptic reads this interview laughing, 'I can do this with one foot.' I was proud of it when I accomplished it in the studio.
"The minute I walked out of the studio and shut the Pro Tools rig down, I thought, 'Now what? Live, every night, whether I'm feeling great or bad or 17 shows into a 29-date tour and I'm getting fatigued and my diet isn't great, I'm going to have to play this.' You know how tour life is — long, weird days and not eating well, but I'm still going to have to pull off 'Barely Alive' because the fans will be waiting for that song."
