At the intersection of heavy rock, metal, and dance/electronic stands Raise The Black Flag, a seven-song production that marries window-rattling bass with the texture of drums, horns, and vocals, conferring presence to Dead Weight’s debut EP. The project embraces the “death step” theme that has governed not only the sound and feel of Dead Weight’s music to date, but also its symbolic and conceptual makeup. Through his hybridization of dubstep and death metal, Dead Weight—an artist project that seeks to spread awareness about the importance of mental health—offers listeners an outlet to unleash their emotions, a process that reminds one of their own sentience as it ground them. In this way, Dead Weight and his music at large, though certainly the Raise The Black Flag EP, are experiential.
This pattern holds on Raise The Black Flag, a robust and often raucous release with dimension and depth. All but one of the EP’s seven inclusions are solo showings from Dead Weight, who involves former Oceano guitarist Nick Conser on “All Is Fair With Nick Conser.”
From top to bottom, the EP serves as an exposition of Dead Weight’s creative capacities, compellingly building on his 2022 breakout, which included a run of eight singles. On Raise The Black Flag, Dead Weight invites streamers to settle into an EP that’ll assuredly do two difficult things: grab their attention, and hold it.
