Denial Fiend
- Story by Chris Dick
Floridian death metal supergroup does the timewarp again
Retro mania is upon us! Bands reform out of thin air (do we really need new Cerebral Fix or Defiance albums?), they regroup for “reunion” tours (we really need to see At the Gates and Carcass again) and labels think thrash is the new deal, signing every Tom, Dick and Harry with stonewash denim jackets and white high-tops. There’s nothing wrong with doing the retro-dance—it’s actually cooler than the “Batdance”—and we’re pretty sure that’s what the members of Denial Fiend are thinking as well. Comprised of ex-/current members of Death, Massacre, Nasty Savage, Six Feet Under and punk legends Down by Law, the Tampa-based quartet’s straightforward death recalls Venom, Celtic Frost and, vocally, Diatribes-era Napalm Death. “The reason we sound old school is because we’re all pretty old,” says guitarist Sam Williams when quizzed on Denial Fiend’s back-to-basics firewater. “We mostly listen to older stuff. Nothing against newer stuff. It just happens to be what I’ve always been fascinated with and interested in making—stuff influenced by what I’ve always listened to since I was a kid.”
Williams, who cut his teeth playing in local punk and hardcore scenes, might seem like the out man when standing next to veterans Kam Lee and Terry Butler, but the early Florida death metal scene—we’re talking Morbid Angel with Mike Browning on vox—made an instant impression. “I was heavily exposed to the early death metal scene,” he reveals, “and I loved it. It just so happens that I played, and excelled, in a different genre. Well, after playing melodic punk for the last 15 or so years, I thought I might like to switch it up a little. I also happen to think that death metal and punk/hardcore have a lot in common.” And Williams is right. The overlap is probably not as obvious now that death metal’s splintered into eight million subgenres, yet firing up Denial Fiend’s debut, They Rise (Ibex Moon), is like dusting off the old Earache and Combat discographies. “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things,” “Return to the Tombs of the Cursed Blind Dead” and the re-worked Mantas cut “L.O.D.,” for example, are Misfits-simple and Hellhammer-heavy. “I don’t really know what to call it,” he admits. “There’s obviously a big death metal influence. I don’t really bother trying to name it anymore. It gives me a headache. So we just kind of call ourselves ‘horror metal’ when pressed, so people still don’t really know what to expect.”
They Rise, complete with a cartoon zombie cover, borrows heavily from horror movies. It’s cliché, yes, but somehow Repulsion-like endearing. Although Sam’s quick to point out it’s Kam who lives and breathes the genre, there’s always a place in his heart for the classics. “I love sitting and watching horror movies a lot. But I don’t know every single fact about every single obscure director and what’s going on in the world of horror. My favorite movie is the original Dawn of the Dead. I tend to like older, more atmospheric horror movies.”
