DEADTHRONE

Metalcore doesn’t have to be angry when it’s this damn good

“WE’RE TRYING TO prove the point that metal doesn’t have to be angry all the time,” Deadthrone vocalist Chris Bissette tells Hammer. “Growing up as a man, you get taught not to express yourself. I think that’s why a lot of maledriven music tends toward aggression, because that’s the only emotion you’re allowed to express.”

The band’s beginnings take them back to being plucky, fresh-faced university graduates who just loved music. Chris attributes his own desire for starting a band to his childhood: “I’ve wanted to be in a band since I was four years old. I found an old Black Sabbath tape in my dad’s bedroom, listened to it and it fucking blew my mind. I just knew from that age I wanted to be in a band and play metal.”

Deadthrone don’t front themselves as your typical angsty and in-your-face political band. However, Chris stresses major importance on their core values of “anti-fascism, anti-bigotry, antiracism” that they believe are the roots of this scene. “Even if it’s not explicitly in the lyrics,” he says, “it’s in my attitude to life and you can’t divorce that from the music.”

Raised at punk shows, he argues that metal and hardcore have always inherently been political – “anyone who says punk and metal aren’t political doesn’t know their own history.” Lyrically, he says the band aim to make a statement “on the world” with the next album. “I think if you’re not getting in that kind of headspace at the minute, you’re not paying attention,” he adds, looking to take influence from Rage Against The Machine and Fever 333.

A prevailing aspect of Deadthrone is their identity, explored introspectively to great lengths with their 2019 debut album, Premonitions. Chris opens up to Hammer about his queer identity and how he’s navigated through the metal scene being bisexual. “I’m quite privileged because I’m very straight-presenting,” he admits, “so no one’s ever questioned it at all. But I think it’s important for people to see someone who doesn’t present as queer saying, ‘Well, actually I am.’ Your identity doesn’t have to be ‘turned up’ in how you present yourself to the world.”

PREMONITIONS IS OUT NOW VIA ARISING EMPIRE