A Late Night Meditation on Mike Dean's Vomit: Stream Red Death's 'Permanent Exile'

Unlike most people approaching the second half of their time of living and breathing, the memory banks of my youth are not crammed with moments like first kisses, acceptance letters from dream colleges, or weekend keggers with my bros. No, most of my memories from that time frame consist of sitting in my room alone listening to The Damned’s Black Album over and over again, barely passing classes with names such as ‘Fish Science’ and foul and disgusting occurrences that happened in shithole clubs.

Lately, one such incident that keeps repeating over and over again in my head Zapruder film style is something I witnessed at a Corrosion of Conformity show somewhere in the dregs of South Philly when I was about 14. From how I remember it, a future member of a H.O.R.D.E touring band and C.O.C. bass player/vocalist Mike Dean had gone out for a pre-set smoke session. Apparently, whatever grade of grass this future fisherman extraordinaire laid on Mr. Dean’s head made him all kinds of fucked up because before stepping to the mic to open the set, he turned stage right and projectile vomited like it was the last upchuck he would ever release in his lifetime.

I mostly stared at Mike Dean’s vomit just lying there on the decrepit stage for the duration of the bands’ set. It was the same tint as his hair: Fanta orange with a greyish hue running through it. There were bright green chunks of something scattered throughout the mushy mess. Celery? Where the hell would that guy have eaten celery while in Philadelphia? These were the kinds of questions that span around my head while C.O.C crushed it just inches from my face.

Why have I been thinking about Mike’s regurgitation as of late, you might ask? Well, it’s because I believe at the end of that night that pile of heave was scooped up, put in a jar, and preserved for years to come. Then, somewhere around the fall of last year, the rusted lid of said crock was twisted off and from that petrification of puke from the god(s) came Red Death’s brand-spanking new nine song LP, Permanent Exile. Outlandish words, you say? Perhaps, but hey, I have been known to sniff a little paint thinner when I’m down here in the basement hiding from the wife.

But even on a clear head of bright light and clean air, there’s no way an honest man or woman can listen to the nine songs these D.C. boys have presented here and not consider it both a continuation and a re-writing of the aesthetical merits of where metal and hardcore blurred its ways into one another somewhere about thirty years ago. The Sabbath-cum-Discharge lineage is there sonically no doubt, and yes, it is projected by a group of wells-studied dudes reaping the benefits from guys like me and your Uncle Phil (you know… the one with the runny eye) who did our undeliberate research. We bought and purged tons of records in our youth only for them to be uploaded into the virtual subconscious of the underground. Am I mad about it? Heck no! I am still as confused, angry, and mentally unstable as I was when I bought records like Corrosion’s Animosity, The English Dogs’ Forward into Battle, and Broken Bones’ Dem Bones as a three-pubed dingus, even though I own a home where I’m free to drink and smoke and urinate off my deck. Red Death are obviously here to soundtrack the universal and timeless shit storm that is life for all of us of all shapes, sizes, demographics and shoe sizes.

Below I present a full stream of Permanent Exile for both your amusement and evaluation. If it does not inspire you to smash your laptop, assault a man of the cloth, or physically ravage the nearest couch, then please retire to a file listening device chock full of podcasts proclaiming the joys of cooking with comino seed. You are a boring, lifeless fuck who is not needed around here.

Order Permanent Exile here and check out Red Death on tour with UKHC titans The Flex on tour at the following dates:

4/10 - 4/12 - Washington D.C. - Damaged City Fest
4/13 - Greensboro, NC @ Fantasy w/ Nervosas, Holder's Scar
4/14 - Savannah, GA @ The Guild Hall w/ Crazy Bag Lady, Anxiety Junkies
4/15 - Jacksonville, FL @ Burro Bar w/ Society Abuse, Rubbish, Crisis Unit
4/16 - Miami, FL @ Churchills Pub w/ Hit List, Silent Authority
4/17 - Gainesville, FL @ A Space w/ Society Abuse, Rubbish
4/18 - Pensacola, FL @ The Handlebar w/ Crisis Unit, Wrists Grow Cold, Dope Fiend
4/19 - New Orleans, LA @ Sisters In Christ w/ Graf Orlock, The World is a Vampire (Early show)
4/20 - Houston, TX @ Black Barbie w/ Paranoid Chant, United Races
4/21 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk w/ Glue, Breakout, Concrete
4/22 - Dallas, TX @ That That w/ Break Away, Modern Pain, Sin Motivo, Bricklayer
4/23 - Las Cruces, NM @ Haphazard Hall w/ Pris, Missing Link, Damien
4/24 - Phoenix, AZ @ 1722 W. Van Buren w/ La Mala Vida, Woundvac, Break Through
4/25 - Los Angeles, CA @ Los Globos w/ Blazing Eye, Response, Lock (Matinee)
4/26 - Pomona, CA @ PBW w/ Fury, Enough Said, Human Garbage
4/27 - Sacramento, CA @ The Colony w/ TBA
4/28 - Portland, OR w/ Combat Knife, Odd Man Out
4/29 - Seattle, WA w/ Gag, Wetbrain
4/30 - Olympia, WA w/ Wreck, Brick Layer
5/1 - Berkeley, CA @ 924 Gilman w/ No Sir, Torso, Whips
5/2 - San Jose, CA @ San Jose Rock Shop w/ Scalped, Fatigue, Subtle Violence, Fade
5/3 - Bakersfield, CA @ TBA
5/4 - Las Vegas, NV @ OMD w/ Moon Blood, Acid Rain and Unfair Fight
5/5 - Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA
5/6 - Denver, CO @ Seventh Circle Music Collective w/ Civilized, Cinderblock
5/7 - Kansas City, MO @ The Sandbox w/ Blindside USA, Traitor K9, Beta Boys