No Mercy From Electric Eyes
Picture this, if you will: the World’s Biggest Pantera fan somehow fanboys his way into a genuine friendship with Dimebag Darrell. Pantera has broken up but Dime has a new band that the world has yet to hear. They’ve been demoing material before they go into the studio to record a proper record and he sends the demos to his fan/friend. Nothing could be more amazing, right?! Until that band turns out to be Damageplan.
The above paragraph is based on a true story only the details of the actual events are as follows: that fanboy was me. And while I’m not, and never was, the World’s Biggest Pantera fan I believe it’s safe to say that I am the World’s Biggest Overcast fan and years ago, during the drinking days, thanks to booze dulling my social filters I did fanboy my way into a friendship with Overcast’s guitarist, Pete Cortese. And what’s better about my story than the fictionalized one above is that Death Ray Vision, the band Pete started post-Overcast, matched the greatness of his previous band whereas Damageplan…did not (which I say gingerly as I do not want to disrespect the fallen Paul Brothers. I may not be the World’s Biggest Pantera fan but they’re in my Top 5 metal bands for sure).
When Death Ray Vision formed in 2010 it was a dream come true for this superfan as the band featured three Overcast alumni: Brian Fair on vocals, Mike D. on bass, and the aforementioned Pete Cortese on guitar. Pete was kind enough to share demos with me of songs that would later appear on their debut ep, Get Lost or Get Dead, and their first long player, We Ain’t Leavin’ Until You’re Bleedin’; both perfect records. Death Ray Vision played a more stripped down version of metallic hardcore than Overcast, opting for short blasts of power; leaning into their influences of the early crossover style such as Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, and Integrity. I saw this version of the band in four different states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and they were a powerhouse live. Things were perfect.
The ep on the right is the OG version, obtained by a certain 30 year old who took a bus from NYC to Massachusetts and back in a single night in an effort to see an early Death Ray Vision show.
Leading up to the release of their second album, Negative Mental Attitude, Brian Fair moved across the country, surrendering his vocal duties which were taken up by Jeff Gard. Gard’s voice had more of a classic metal sound, putting his impressive set of pipes on full display. But his was a register too high for this hardcore kid. While I thought their sophomore album contained some of the finest music Death Ray Vision had written up to that point, the vocals landed them in full-on metal territory leaving me sitting in my camouflage shorts and New Balance sneakers wondering what happened to the hardcore portion of their crossover style; daydreaming about what the songs would have sounded like with Brian Fair screaming over them.
A few years passed and Pete, in between our texts swapping suggestions for comedy movies for the other to check out, mentioned that Death Ray Vision was prepping a new record but with another new vocalist, their third in as many albums. This is the point when the Damageplan comparison popped into my head. I’ve got my favorite guitar player of all time texting me about the new album that he’s super excited about, praising this great vocalist they’ve landed, Keith Bennett from legendary Boston hardcore vets, Wrecking Crew. Sure I was happy for my friend as he was clearly excited but how was I supposed to feel?! Lightning already struck twice. Overcast and Death Ray Vision (in their first incarnation) achieved musical perfection. Then it was over in a flash. They regrouped and came out swinging on their second album: incredible music, one of the best album titles of all-time, a CD layout in 3D complete with “3D Death Ray Specs,” and still a force to be reckoned with live. But the vocals were a bit too metal for my taste. And now I’m supposed to believe in a third guy?
Anxiety consumed me as I downloaded the advanced copy of Death Ray Vision’s forthcoming full-length, No Mercy From Electric Eyes, trying to come up with a kind way of saying “Nice try buddy, A for effort.” Upon hitting play on the opening track, Behead the King, my apprehension quickly turned to astonishment. I’m no good at conveying why I like a record, only that I do, evidenced by the fact that my initial intention was to write a conventional review of No Mercy From Electric Eyes, yet that plan has since morphed into a story all about me. I won’t claim to be a big Frank Zappa fan but a quote of his has always stuck with me: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” That sums up the beauty of music. It touches emotions which we don’t have names for. And No Mercy From Electric Eyes punched every one of my ineffable emotions right in the face. It’s powerful, it’s melodic, it’s got a ton of groove…and those vocals: holy hell!
Keith Bennett’s vocal range, like the band he now fronts, is true crossover-style, falling somewhere between screaming and singing, equal parts aggressive and melodic. He’s not invoking a death growl, nor is he executing a high-pitched Halford impression, and he’s certainly not using the screaming into ballad-style singing chorus that metalcore bands have been beating into the ground for years. Bennett has achieved the implausible, managing to sing over insanely heavy music in a voice that’s truly his own.
No Mercy from Electric Eyes will be released on 6/30/23 and can be ordered here.
No Mercy From Electric Eyes, Death Ray Vision’s first album on Metal Blade Records, contains 12 songs, clocking in at 36 minutes which, to me, is the perfect length for an album. After the closing track, End Me, I’m left wanting more rather than wondering how much longer. In addition to finding a vocalist in Bennett with a voice unique to the genre, Death Ray Vision is a band that pulls off a feat so seemingly obvious in an area that many metal bands these days overlook: they put the song(writing) first. Too many metal bands today seem to be made up of a collection of shredders all focused on their own individual parts, in an effort to craft something as complex as possible, rather than serving the needs of the song itself. Whatever happened to writing a good song? Sure there are still some song-oriented bands left in metal, Mastodon and Gojira come to mind, who, while all world class players, come together to form a unit greater than the sum of its parts. The listener might not even notice how incredibly talented each musician in the band is as the focus is on how damn good the song sounds. Death Ray Vision falls into this category. They sound like a band whose influences put songwriting at the forefront, whether they were metal bands, hardcore bands, punk bands, etc.
Overcast sits on my Mount Rushmore of heavy bands. While they have been posthumously embraced, during the nineties they were often overlooked; their sound dubbed too metal for the hardcore kids and too hardcore for the metalheads. Death Ray Vision, on the other hand, play a balanced blend of hardcore and metal. And they even bring old friend Brian Fair back into the fold to guest on a track called Broken Hands of God, a song with a chorus so catchy it’ll be stuck in your head for days thanks to Bennett’s Hot Water Music-esque melody. Fortunately for this fanboy, this is no Damageplan situation. Death Ray Vision has forged its own identity, establishing itself as one of the strongest crossover bands of the day. Their new album will appeal to fans of Lamb of God, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Hatebreed, and every heavy band in between. I say this as the snobbiest / most hard to please Death Ray Vision fan around: No Mercy From Electric Eyes is this band’s masterpiece. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to figure out how to submit myself to Google as the World’s Biggest Death Ray Vision fan.
Ryan Roberts is a dog walker, a music snob, and an author. His debut novel, Nimrod, published by Earth Island Books, is available here and everywhere books are sold.
