Dead Inside

Dead Inside: No. 4No. 4 (2001)
Firefly

Reviewer Rating: 5

Contributed by: JAmbrOC
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on September 17th 2004There is something slightly pretentious and off-putting about reviews of old releases: even when the review has something new and interesting to say, it seems like changing times affect the relative value of the music. Jawbreaker's Dear You is a good example of this. Many fans were disappointed wh.

There is something slightly pretentious and off-putting about reviews of old releases: even when the review has something new and interesting to say, it seems like changing times affect the relative value of the music. Jawbreaker's Dear You is a good example of this. Many fans were disappointed when the album first came out, but it's aged well (in part because of its then-unforeseeable influence on other bands).

This brings me to Dead Inside's No. 4.

This site has been swamped with reviews of really uninspired music of late. I realize that Bad Religion, for instance, has lots of fans. That does not, however, change the fact that we've heard their sound before. Now don't get me wrong, I like Bad Religion as much as the next guy… they just haven't reached out of my stereo and shaken me like a rag-doll recently.

No. 4, in contrast, is an album so visceral that it borders on the frightening. Recorded over four days in September 2001, it is effectively the audio equivalent of being caught in a riot. Listening to it, I literally experience a rush of adrenaline and can taste tear gas burning in my throat.

Dead Inside is best described as a British hybrid of Born Against and Dag Nasty, with the rage of the former and the musical sensibilities of the latter. Lyrically, Dead Inside's focus is mostly introspective. The lyrics, however, aren't so much "sung" as snarled through gritted teeth, with the songs living up to their ominous ("Coiled like a Snake") names. The music is too dangerous to be called anything but hardcore, yet too fast to be called anything but punk. Long dead Revelation Records band Kiss It Goodbye makes for a good point of reference, although No. 4 eschews the same theatric screaming and metal breakdowns.

Unfortunately, Dead Inside broke up shortly after recording No. 4. Nevertheless, they left behind an entirely unique album that serves as an important reminder that punk is infinitely more vital than the new Bad Religion album or the cicada-like summer swarms of Taking Back Sunday clones might lead one to believe.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (September 18, 2004)

This sounds interesting enough. I'll have to check it out, even if the band is defunct.

-ObeyYourParents

Anonymous (September 18, 2004)

excellent

Anonymous (September 18, 2004)

I originally wrote this review a couple months ago to help myself get over writer's block on a paper I was writing. As I'm now revising that same paper, it seemed appropriate to revise this by adding a little more “real review.”

First; the best track on No.4 is “Smashed” which has the screamed passage: “I don’t even know if you see the same things that I see (cos I’m so smashed), there’s enough blood here before me stain a thousand pages and enough people here to help appease my/their rage.” This leads immediately into “Bottleneck 2001” which is basically the other side of the coin to “Smashed.” Where the former was about building anger, the latter is about trying to push that anger away. It’s an interesting and effective counterpoint – basically setting up the problem and then presenting the cathartic resolution. It’s also a nifty, and unexpected, musical device that works really well without being pretentious.

Second; there’s a real contrast between this and the Boston Beatdown material also reviewed this week. The biggest part of Boston Beatdown is the macho posturing that goes into every aspect of it. (Suicidal Tendencies, anyone?) Unlike bands like Blood for Blood whose understanding of hardcore is limited to childish lyrics and swearing, Dead Inside is hardcore because they absolutely destroy.

Thanks for reading,

OC