Year Of Metal #064: Dead Cross - Dead Cross II
This experimental thrash record is another one I chucked onto my pile after seeing it feature on some or other list of the best metal LPs of 2022, so you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I discovered the frontman was none other than Faith No More’s Mike Patton. A supergroup comprising members of Retox, the Locust, and Slayer, per Patton the intention was to form a straight ahead hardcore band, but the results of their sophomore effort are a little more pleasingly weird than that.
I’m not familiar with a lot of the work of the non-Patton band members, so I’m listening to this through a bit of a Faith No More filter, but to me the sound is very much what happens when you take a wildly unconventional singer and stick him with musicians who are perhaps more used to being confined within specific genres. Opener “Love Without Love” is the perfect table setter. The musicianship and the riffs are razor sharp and air tight. The combination of Justin Pearson’s ominously gurgling bass and Michael Crain’s layered, shrieking guitars create an all-enveloping sound, leaving Patton free to strut his stuff. He gives it the creepshow treatment over the hushed intro, utilises his trademark faux-operatic tones, then works himself up to a lather by the song’s end.
The experimental tendencies aren’t limited to Patton, though. I love the guitars on “Ants And Dragons”, a standout tune. The piercing topline has a surf-rock quality to it, inspired perhaps by East Bay Ray from hardcore stalwarts Dead Kennedys. And the mostly instrumental outro to the pounding, charging “Animal Espionage” might be the high point of the whole record. The band move in step as they jump around chord changes, while Dave Lombardo - one of the all-time great metal drummers - brings things to a tribal level, pounding a hypnotic beat on his toms.
There’s nothing knowingly or self consciously bizarre about Dead Cross II, though, and they can deliver a straightforward thrash/hardcore track as well as anyone. “Reign Of Error”, the lead single, is belting down the line punk-metal. It’s a total sprint of a song, high strung, aggressive, and impressively structured given its unwillingness to sit still or stick around. They cut from tuneful choruses to bestial shrieks, while Crain plays every riff he can think of as fast as humanly possible.
“Nightclub Canary” hits on an even more old school vibe. Dead Cross approach something like Sunset Strip sleaze, with playful vocal harmonies, a dunderheaded hard rock riff, and a deranged wah wah solo. You’d be hard pressed to find a quasi-hardcore or thrash record that encompasses in part so many disparate genres. They straddle the line expertly between paying tribute and taking the piss; either way, the sound and the songs are good enough that it hardly matters.
I think there’s a sense of fun to this record that’s a lot easier to tap into when it’s a supergroup, when it’s not necessarily your main hustle. If all of this goes tits up, it’s not the end of the world, the members of Dead Cross can go back to their day jobs. If that perhaps makes the album a touch inconsequential, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, but you’ll most assuredly have a blast with this one.
