Throw some top shelf tequila on a hot patch of desert highway, and the flash fire that results is the new Dead in 5 album!

With a front man that sounds like Joey Belladonna mixed with Henry Font from NYC’s Pist.On and a sound reminiscent of the more brutal side of Southern heavies Texas Hippie Coalition and Rob Zombie, Dead in 5 create a sound

Throw some top shelf tequila on a hot patch of desert highway, and the flash fire that results is the new Dead in 5 album!

With a front man that sounds like Joey Belladonna mixed with Henry Font from NYC’s Pist.On and a sound reminiscent of the more brutal side of Southern heavies Texas Hippie Coalition and Rob Zombie, Dead in 5 create a sound (and an album) that’s wholly original, regardless of the comparisons. On their latest release, Schizophrenic Razor Project, this Detroit 5-piece go for the jugular with an album that undeniably proves “Rock ain’t dead!”

If the guitar onslaught that greets you once “Black Friday Holiday” begins doesn’t instantly hook you then you probably don’t like music. Or fun. For the rest of us inhabitants of Planet Earth, take “Black Friday Holiday” as a gateway drug if you’ve never heard the smooth sounds of Dead in 5 before and from there it just gets more real.

“Trippin On The Inside” is like something off of Coal Chamber’s debut until vocalist Robert Libre gets all creepy, channeling Tom Araya on “Dead Skin Mask” with his spoken word delivery. “Sliver” visits the industrial side a little bit driven by the enmeshing of Dana Forrester’s bass and James Trunko’s drums while “Still Remains” is a veritable riff factory fueled by Brent Hall and Peder Seglund’s dual guitar attack.

The remainder of Schizophrenic… offers “Maggots and Flies” which is a swirling cacophony of percussive beats, squealing guitars, and Libre’s impassioned screams and “Killing What’s Left of Me” recalling the sleazy vibe of ’80’s Motley Crue (Think “Looks That Kill” for this one). If Dead in 5 isn’t on your rawk radar yet then Schizophrenic Razor Project is the album that’ll put them there.

Rock and Roll Fables, March 2015