Negative music for positive people! This week’s guest on Discover New Music is Joe Cotela of DED. The band’s third album “Resent” has been three years in the making and Cotela talks about the ups and downs of the last three years, writing new music, taking chances and creating on their own terms. Plus, fans(and the band itself) get a treat with collabs on the album with some heavy hitters in the rock world. As always a quick round of Rapid Fire is played…with fond memories of Choco Tacos.
Nu-Metal has had a revival in the last decade, and one of the artists in the legion of this resurrection has been Arizona’s Ded. The band branded themselves as a notable act since their 2017 debut album, “Mis•an•thrope”, showcasing the absolute feral side of Nu-Metal that became an instant cult classic among fans and catapulted them into the main vein of favored heavy artists. Swarms of us already deep in the fanbases of the likes of Korn, Mudvayne, and Slipknot latched onto it like leeches, bleeding dry every second of each track that we could until we hated it. Releasing “School of Thought” in 2021, the group went in a less unhinged direction, focusing on a more hard-rock, intrapersonal route of false idols, mental health, and destructive habits on each other and the planet we inhabit. Releasing their third and most anticipated album, “RESENT”, this thing is an amalgamation of both routes; it sounds like half Misanthrope 2 and half University of Thought but matured and evolved into Ded’s fullest form.
The album was recorded over the course of three years in their own studio in Phoenix at Trash Island Studios, and after being halted by behind-the-scenes business obstacles, they’ve damn near spent all that time just crafting more of their art. Assisted in mixing and mastering by Zach Jones and KJ Strock, Ded has in essence engineered the entirety of the album by themselves. In addition, the band has recruited several dominating vocalists as features, including frontmen of Mudvayne, Motionless In White, and Upon A Burning Body. On the long-awaited release, vocalist and frontman Joe Cotela comments:
“This album is three years of trials and tribulations. The internal battle of telling yourself over and over ‘I can do this, I can do anything that I set my mind to.’ That was coupled with the anger and frustration of existing in the current climate of the past couple years in the world and our struggles to overcome and remain steadfast in our pursuits. These songs are the angriest and at the same time the catchiest tracks that we have ever put down”.
From a debut album hitting #1 on charts, racking up 25 million streams with showcases of tracks on Sirius XM, and nominations of Best New Artist by Loudwire, Ded exploded onto the scene. Their sophomore album earned them spots on the big stage of festivals, tours with metal giants In This Moment & Black Veil Brides, and their top radio track, “Kill Beautiful Things,” gathered over 4 million streams and 1.7 million YouTube views. Now three years later, the all-white contacts are coming back out — Ded has risen.
Our first resurrected track is “Wasted”, a nasty welcome back with creeping electronics infused. Vocalist and frontman Joe Cotela opens up a sermon of disconnection and exhaustion from others and internal exhaustion. Going from the dreamlike sung chorus to insane distorted lows, this sort of full-on vocal aggression and malice shows that Cotela is no one to fuck with. The immediate sonics you notice through the album are the tones of guitarist Alex Adamcikand bassist Kyle Koelsch—these tones are engineered to grip you with bite, and they do not let go. As a guitar player, I am tone-chasing after this release. Paired with drummer Matt Reinhard’s tendency to go from intricate to bouncing to full blitzkrieg of kicks, bells, and snares behind the kit, sets this release up as a haymaker for the genre.
Firing on all cylinders, next is “You Want Honest?” featuring Chad Gray of nu-metal’s legendary Mudvayne. This track is a non-stop uppercut to the damn jaw—perfect for the proving grounds of the mosh pit. Gray’s unique vocals claw through this track, agonizingly telling us to put the opposition on their damn knees. This was a phenomenal choice for a guest spot on the album, and I’m grateful to see older and newer generations of the genre join forces like this.
