Today, Deadguy shares “New Best Friend,” the second single off Near-Death Travel Services (Relapse Records), the long-awaited sophomore LP from infamous metalcore pioneers Deadguy. 30 years later. Titled Near-Death Travel Services [pre-order], it remains an inside joke for the band, reflecting on touring and playing this kind of music when they’re ostensibly “past their prime.”

Deadguy innately understood how heavy and deranged its follow-up to 1995’s debut LP, Fixation on a Coworker would need to be, and that’s exactly what it delivered.  There are no signs of Near-Death Travel Services being a swansong; no winding down, no taking it easy or resting on proverbial laurels. The band Deadguy was 30 years ago went into hibernation and came back as if no time had passed. How did it happen? How were they able to pull it off? Maybe some egghead professor of musicology can figure that out, but for the rest of us it’s best to just gratefully sit back and enjoy the massacre. 

From the first enraged scream that ignites the album, this is the kind of merciless chaos that’s been gone far too long. The record is overflowing with angular riffs, clashing guitars, fractured rhythms and gutter bass that no one does better, but with even more red meat and gristle. Instead of moving away from its sound Deadguy has dug in deeper, expanding their songs and giving Tim Singer more room to again show why he’s been one of the best vocalists in extreme music since the first Bush administration.