Dead Cross, the supergroup comprised of members of Faith No More, ex-Slayer, The Locust and more fame, have officially announced their sophomore album “II“. That effort will meet an October 28th release via Patton‘s Ipecac Recordings label.
Initial recording sessions for the effort took place in December of 2019 with producer Ross Robinson (Korn, Slipknot), with vocalist Mike Patton later finishing parts at his own home studio.
Guitarist Michael Crain was battling cancer amid the sessions for the effort. He recently commented of channeling that harrowing experience into the project:
“Words can’t even begin to describe how much this album means to me. It’s birthed of pain and uncertainty. The slow, excruciatingly painful, and nauseating recovery from cancer treatments were the catalyst for every riff and note on this album. However, my will to live and be with my brothers Justin, Dave, Mike, and co-producer Ross Robinson, got me out of bed and running into the studio every day to get it all on tape.”
In a newly published interview with Rolling Stone, Dead Cross, etc. vocalist Mike Patton opened up on his ongoing battles with agoraphobia and also spoke of this record. One of the pronounced changes between it and the band’s debut is an increased vocal presence from bassist Justin Pearson. He commented of that:
“…I would say about half of them [vocals] are JP. If you listen closely, you can really tell, because he’s got this crazy high screaming voice. And I knew that he had that from the get-go. I toured with The Locust, and I’ve been friends with them for years. One regret that I have about our first record was that we didn’t use his voice enough. Like, it’s a total weapon to have in our arsenal. So when I was writing the lyrics I was very conscious of, ‘OK, wait, that’s for him. That’s for me.’ It’s a ping-pong kind of vocal approach. And I think we did pretty good.”
The politically oriented “Reign Of Error” has been released as the first new single from the outing and is available below, complete with a NSFW music video crafted by Displaced/Replaced. As an added bonus, it finds the band donned in costumes of gangs from the 1979 film ‘The Warriors“.
Crain commented of that song:
“‘Reign Of Error‘ was recorded almost as quickly as it was written and I believe there’s a very good explanation for it. I haven’t told anybody this before, least of all the rest of the band or Ross, but I honestly felt a strong presence in the studio that day. Those riffs flew out of me and when Dave sat down at his kit it was almost as if we’d played that song a thousand times before.
It literally just happened so fast. Bam! One take. I’m not trying to paint a dark or fantasy-like story either. Having just escaped death and still healing from my cancer treatments I was incredibly sensitive to energy and the other side. There was someone else there. Not evil but benevolent and inspiring.
I honestly believe it was Dave’s old bandmate and friend Jeff [Hanneman, late Slayer guitarist]. I think he just wanted to jam with his friend again and perhaps did so through me. There I said it. Whether people believe it or not I really don’t care. I’m just grateful that I had that experience.”
“II” track listing:
01 – “Love Without Love”
02 – “Animal Espionage”
03 – “Heart Reformer”
04 – “Strong and Wrong”
05 – “Ants and Dragons”
06 – “Nightclub Canary”
07 – “Christian Missile Crisis”
08 – “Reign Of Error”
09 – “Imposter Syndrome”
Pre-orders for the album have been launched here.
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