Formed by ex-Barn Burner frontman Kevin Keegan (and yes, that is his real name) in the winter of 2013 and featuring ex-3 Inches Of Blood man Justin Hagberg on keyboards, Dead Quiet caused a few ripples of excitement with their self-titled debut album two years ago. Streamed exclusively here for the first time, the Vancouver crew’s second album is an absolute monster and looks certain to propel the band to the forefront of the stoner rock and doom metal scenes. It’s called Grand Rites and if you’re a fan of stoner rock, doom metal or any strain of ‘70s-influenced heaviness, we are fairly sure that it will blow your head off.
Grand Rites is a thunderous piece of work. Was your sound set in stone from the start or has this all evolved organically?
Kevin Keegan (vocals/guitar): “The original master plan was probably just to play what was naturally coming out of us as we digested our various influences and experiences. Obviously keeping things fun and energetic was always kept in mind too, although the direction is always evolving without too much explanation other than what’s going on in our individual lives. I think it all comes from a desire to play music that’s loud and heavy but tries to maintain a certain melody and storyline. What we do is definitely rooted in the classics but there are always contemporary influences that can’t be ignored either.”
- 10 of the best metal bands from Canada
- Our TeamRock+ offer just got bigger. And louder.
- The 10 Essential Stoner Metal Albums
- The 10 essential doom metal albums
Is there an overall concept or theme behind these songs and the title Grand Rites?
“Grand Rites represents this sort of arrogance we have as humans over the Earth. This belief that what is here is here for us, exclusively, and whatever is necessary for our benefit comes at the Earth’s expense. From that comes my curiosity about why we have this thirst for death and destruction and how we come to terms with having relationships with people who may not share the same impending fear of that mentality. Dealing with friends and family who have alienating beliefs and coming to terms with maintaining a relationship with them in spite of this, that can be really difficult.”
What are your plans now the album has been unveiled?
“My hope is that people will really want to dig into this album. There’s a lot going on in the production as well as conceptually. We spent quite a bit of time arranging and detailing this thing and I guess we’re just really proud of it! Other than that we definitely love playing live, so we hope to get out there and do a lot more of that.”
Dead Rites will be released on November 3, and is available to pre-order now.
