On Peril, Eugene, Oregon’s Dead Fucking Serious show up with a relentless energy that calls for their fellow country-people to open their eyes and see what their beloved America has become.
Their politically charged lyrics have a strong, rough vocal delivery that is anger personified and makes you want to scream along, regardless of your nationality. The guitars and drums are frantic throughout, driving their message home that people need to wake up to the harsh realities of American life and do something before it is too late. They play like they need to get their message out or they’ll explode, never slowing down or taking a break. Each song blends seamlessly into the next, creating a non-stop wall of sound that gives you the strength of thousands to continue the fight.
Dead Fucking Serious are able to blend their passion for music and political beliefs together seamlessly without sounding preachy on Peril. “Aliens” rips into the Trump administration’s inhumane treatment of immigrants with lyrics that force images of families being separated and children kept in cages into your mind. “We came here for a change/You all kept us in chains” is one of the most powerful lyrics in the song, drawing a line between the hope for a better life held by these people and the hatred they are met with by a country built on the backs of immigrants that bills itself on indiscriminate freedom for all.
“Magaman” closes out the album with a scathing attack on Trump and the people who voted him in. Bringing up his constant hypocrisy and a fraction of the needless violence that has happened since he has been in power. The fall of America is near this track warns over powerful guitars and drums, leaving us all with something to think about.
Peril is very well produced, creating instrumental depth that manifests as a whirlwind of powerful sound emphasizing Dead Fucking Serious’ demand for change. They make strong political statements that refuse to sugar-coat the realities of the Trumpian world we live in. However, there are minimal changes in arrangement from track to track which makes songs blend together. On Peril, instead of the lack of change making songs feel like trudging through a bog, it makes you focus more on the lyrics and makes the album feel like a seamless manifesto. That said, due to the vocal delivery some of the lyrics are hard to make out. While this doesn’t happen on every track, the fact that it does happen is enough to drop it from a 5 to a 4.
Dead Fucking Serious make their voice heard on Peril and lights a fire under our asses to not give up hope and keep fighting for our beliefs.