Day of the Death

Making its Epitaph debut with Day of the Death, Death By Stereo defines another fierce disposition with its own hardcore punk. The SoCal snobbery of fisted anthems and juggernaut mosh pits acted out by other punk revivalists paved the way for Death By Stereo, and the intensity found on Day of the Death is a bit mimicking. The acidic vocals of enigmatic frontman Efrem Schultz blaze over quick, pulsating percussion and spiraling guitar loops, but the effect is not entirely mind-blowing. Agnostic Front has already done it, Pennywise attempted to make it commercial, and Blink-182 pushed third-wave punk into the ears of suburban kids. Death By Stereo basically joins their ranks. Heavy metal guitar licks throb throughout the entire record, and songs such as "You Can Lead a Man to Reason, But You Can't Make Him Think" and "You Mess With One Bean, You Mess With the Whole Burrito" are humorous, but the high-speed performance from the entire band doesn't exude such comedy. New millennium punk fans might not necessarily have to identify with the chaos and antagonism portrayed throughout the '80s by Minor Threat and Black Flag; they just need something to rage against the machine, something to thrash around to. Death By Stereo's Day of the Death plainly plays into the effect.