There’s a reason certain albums/artists make it onto our new year preview list without hearing a note and just the whiff or mention that something is coming down the line. In most cases, that’s due to either the collective talent involved having some past releases (Together or with other bands) that are already and certified to be truly badass or they have a live presence that’s just beyond reproach. Deprogrammer Cult is a rare case of a band that encapsulates both those criteria. And with Tactics For Manipulation, they’re about to prove why.
We don’t think there has ever been a more perfect opener for one heavy ass record such as the one Deprogrammer Cult is set to unleash in the wild than “Purity For Explosion” which is, ahem, akin to an explosion itself that’s dynamic and feverish with an ominous low end rumble from Jeff Jacques to begin before Erik Scott’s monstrous vocal approach triggers the explosion in question. From there, it’s an unrelenting trip filled with, highs, lows, and everything in between that runs the gamut of heaviness.
“Contrôle Milieu” is the first “single” off the record and it’s a steaming pile of propulsive ebbing and flowing that sonically embodies the feeling when you’re in the thick of the crowd on the floor at a show and you find yourself swaying with the bodies that surround you to the soundtrack being propelled into your earholes from the stage. And yet “Unenlightened, Unconscious, And Converted” somehow manages to be bigger still with Jesse Sherman’s crushing drumming looming large yet the whole thing still injects some massive Groove into all especially with how riff spewers Paul Vaughn and Jon Bell throw down in a way that conjures airs of Every Time I Die circa New Junk Aesthetic and that dirty, raw sounding Soundgarden of old.
That big ass bass tone from Jacques is back for the beginning of “Must Be Denied” with Scott’s anthemic scream howling proud before picking up the pace instrumentally for a frenzy that culminates in a catastrophic cacophony of sound. But in a good way! Scott leads off “Truth Beyond All Dispute” that boasts some particularly stellar solo shreds before the hard charging live favorite “Confessor, Confessed” drops in sans Scott wailing like a madman out in the audience which is the norm for a DC show (Spoiler alert?).
“Planned And Orchestrated By Divine Authority” spills out of that one like the fallout from a nuclear explosion coming in all gnarly and nasty with Sherman and Jacques’ rhythmic wall of sound colliding with the one that Bell and Vaughn have erected on the guitar front for a “Wall Of Death” within if you will. Ending Tactics… in grand fashion, “Thought-Terminating Clichés” enters the chat with one last blast of furiosity (Not a word) followed by almost a minute long bow drenched in feedback, percussive blasts, and Scott’s scalding screams.
Tactics For Manipulation arrives through Constant Disappointment Records on July 19th. Pre-orders are available now and can be perused then (hopefully) purchased when you head here or here for the limited edition (With pogs!) or to the stream below. For more from Deprogrammer Cult, including all the latest live dates like the release show planned on the same day (Again, July 19th!) with Eye For An Eye, Wire Lines, and Ancient Domains at Deep Cuts in Medford, follow the socials by clicking here or here.