Dry Kill Logic played a concert in my city recently, and
I happened to spot a
couple
of the members of the band playing Frisbee in the rain
late on a summer
afternoon, going at it with a grim determination that
seemed more suitable
for a more serious task. No matter. They pretty much
establish their angry
bona fides on their debut CD, THE DARKER SIDE OF
NONSENSE, in which they hurl
invectives at everyone and everything at earbleed volume.
"Dry Kill Logic," so I'm told, means "the interruption
of a circuit that
can't complete its loop, and thus can't deliver its
message;" it accordingly
is one of those terms of which the definition is often
more confusing than
the term used to describe it. It's really a misnomer
here, as Dry Kill Logic
delivers its message loud and clear, thank you. They're
pissed off, and
pissed off at you. And it's really personal.
What saves this CD from the skeetpile is that they have
deviated from the
three-chords-and-a-cloud-of dust sensibilities of their
metal brothers. Not
that most of the songs don't move at Mach 10, but the
band has a canny sense
of dynamics. This is particularly highlighted by the
schizophrenic vocals of
Cliff Rigano, who can go from razorblade gargling shouts
that sound like your
dad yelling at you after he's had a REALLY bad day to
sounding just as sweet
as a little schoolkid. Well, maybe as sweet as a little
schoolkid about 12:03
p.m., when his morning ritalin fix is wearing off. The
titles of the tracks
on THE DARKER SIDE OF NONSENSE are pretty much what you
would expect, and
pretty much say it all: "Nightmare," "Feel The
Break," "Pain," "Rot," "Give
up, Give In, Lie Down"...you get the idea. Each one has
a little surprise,
though. "Nothing," for instance, almost fades away
to...well, nothing, for
several seconds then gradually builds back up to full
throttle volume that
kicks the stuffing out of the listener. The big surprise
on the CD, though,
is "Goodnight." "Goodnight" comes off like DKL
Unplugged, owing more to
Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity" than to the Sepultura
school of vocal
stylings, with harmonies(!), strings (!!) no profanity
(!!!) and most
surprising of all, no razorblade gargle vocals (!!!!).
While it has become
de rigour for metal bands to record a softer track in
order to get that
all-important radio airtime, anyone buying THE DARKER
SIDE OF NONSENSE on the
strength of "Goodnight" is going to get a HUGE surprise,
kind of like a woman
going out on a first date with this really polite, nice
guy she just met
named Ted Bundy. Yet, it would almost be worth buying
the CD for this track
alone to hear its quiet vocals, impeccable acoustic
guitar arrangement, and
haunting lyrics. While "Goodnight" ostensibly closes the
CD out, there is a
hidden track that brings the guys back to their reality,
another shouter that
sounds as if it was recorded at a party they threw to
celebrate that the
tranks wore off. This track reminded me, weirdly enough,
of what the "Beach
Boys Party" album (the one that "Barbara Ann" came from)
would have sounded
like if Dennis Wilson had brought his buddies in the
Manson Family to it.
There is a lot more to Dry Kill Logic than would at
first meet the eye and
ear. If they can avoid the self-destructive implosion
that nails a lot of
bands of this type they may be around for quite awhile,
and not at the bottom
half of the bill, either. Wait and see.
