ABOUT DEATH RAY VISION:
Commencing writing in late 2018 following a tour with Killswitch Engage — who share bassist Mike D’Antonio with DRV — the band had a lot of creative momentum still burning following that year’s Negative Mental Attitude and kept it rolling. The results will demonstrate that they are playing at the top of their game. “We’re a lot more cohesive as a band after playing together for so many years, and we’ve gotten better at songwriting and collaborating to bring out the best in everyone’s ideas,” says guitarist
Pete Cortese.
A further new dimension affecting the sound is the addition of vocalis Bennett to the band’s ranks, who the existing members knew would be the perfect fit from his time with notable acts Wrecking Crew, Panzerbastard (both of whom shared the stage with Cortese and D’Antonio’s other band Overcast), and Ramallah. “Keith brings a whole lot of piss and vinegar, with a side of street cred. He brought a new sense of enthusiasm and excitement and got us even more fired up to make a great record,” says Cortese. Guitarist Chris Rosati adds, “Creatively speaking, Keith is a force of nature. His ability to get inside a new song and quickly come up with vocals and lyrics is really something to witness.”
Lyrically, No Mercy From Electric Eyes is a more politically charged record than their previous releases – “it’s more pissed off, and anyone paying attention to the state of the world can understand why,” says Cortese – but it’s also deeply personal for Bennett. “Every word I’m singing is from the heart,” says the vocalist. “I should have been dead a few years ago, I’m here for a reason. These lyrics are a direct line to how I feel, how I live, what I see.”
When it came to tracking, drummer Colin Conway laid down his parts at Mad Oak studio with long time associate Benny Grotto, while everything else was recorded, engineered and produced by Rosati at his home studio, Mass Metal Studios.
The record is wrapped up with a title drawn from the lyrics of one of the tracks — Cortese pointing out that it makes perfect sense given their band name – and vivid artwork courtesy of D’Antonio, which according to the bassist stems from the idea “of ‘being under the thumb of an ethereal overlord.’ The fear of knowing the ‘master’ is watching your every move, from a short distance away. In this world, only obedience is accepted and absolutely no mercy is given to those who fail.” Having poured so much of their hearts and souls into No Mercy From Electric Eyes, the band hope to play the songs live as much as possible, and have aspirations of touring outside of the US for the first time, but at the end of the day they are proud of what they have achieved and believe they are worth giving a damn about, because they give a damn about everything they do. “We made a great record that doesn’t sound like many contemporary metal bands,” says Cortese. “It’s heavy as fuck without having to rely on drop Z tuning, and it’s a great balance of aggressive and melodic without sounding contrived.”
