Welcome to Demo:listen, your weekly peek into the future of underground extreme metal. Whether it’s death, black, doom, sludge, grind, thrash, -core, heavy, speed, punk-, stoner, etc., we bring you the latest demos from the newest bands. On this week’s Demo:listen it’s a slow and heavy clobbering from Illinois’ Drenched.
Drenched is the work of one man. Its creator Dylan Jones lives now in Illinois, but as Jones explains, he’s “originally from a . . . small town in Oklahoma where you can’t find any other people into this music.” Drenched, along with his other death metal bands, Rotted, and Unlife, are only so-called one-man bands out of necessity. But while talking with Jones about recording Drenched’s self-titled demo, he betrays his dedicated work habits, his desire for solitude and independence.
The first two tracks, the Drenched songs, Jones explains, were conceived and recorded in “[a]bout a week . . . back in February 2015. The Cianide cover was added a little later.”
When asked if it’s ever difficult or frustrating working alone, Jones is candid.
“I find it easier to work alone,” he admits. “You have no one telling you what to do, or how to play. Granted, I’d love to get a line-up together to do some shows for Drenched. It’s become a second nature being solo. If I have the songs all finished and ready to go, I can record probably close to 10 songs in one day, give or take. It’s definitely frustrating sometimes, as it is limiting and somewhat stressful having to write everything yourself, but as I stated earlier, it’s better than having someone tell you how to play.”
Jones remains independent all the way down to the logo of his band. When I ask him who drew the Drenched logo, he says: “I did.”
“I like being independent with everything involving my bands, so naturally I do all of my logos and some of my art. Other art is sourced from friends or family who are more skilled in the visual arts than I am. I just looked at an Old English font and did my take on it.”
Jones also did his own take on a Cianide song. Aside from the Drenched cover of “Scourging at the Pillar” being an impressive homage to the heroes of Jones’ new state, the faithful rendition also sounds perfectly at home after the two Drenched originals, “Wraith” and “Spectral Veil.”
“Cianide are such a riff heavy band,” Jones observes. “No filler, no bullshit.”
When asked to name some influences besides Cianide, Jones fires off a litany of band names, but sure enough suspects like Dusk, Derkéta, Rottrevore, Mythic, Rippikoulu are in there.
“Death Metal, and more specifically Death/Doom, has been one of my favorite subgenres since I first discovered it years ago. Those slow, heavy caveman chugging riffs just do something for me. The sheer brutality and heaviness is something I’ve always loved and love experimenting with. Drenched was a product of this experimentation.”
A few remaining copies of Drenched’s 3-song demo tapes are scattered far and wide across the internet. Otherwise jam the Bandcamp and throw Jones some mula so we can all catch some more doom-death buzzes. Check out Rotted, too.
Jones says Drenched’s “just finshed” recording his side of a split release with another band he doesn’t name. He says he’s also putting the final touches on the layout for the Rotted debut album. Next, he aims to work on Drenched’s full length.
And there’s good news for those who missed out on picking up a copy of the Drenched demo tape. The demo will soon be reissued on CD by Vile Pleasures, with the addition of the songs from the impending split.
The comp CD should be out in December, Jones says. The split will be here even sooner. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
