Internet Death
Not Your Dog!
(MUZAI Records)
Today, we’re honored to premiere Not Your Dog!, the upcoming album from Christchurch digital hardcore artist Internet Death.
Last year’s Mega Sony Death Kill!, the debut effort from the now 16-year-old New Zealander Finlay Anderson, was the work of someone who was absolutely pissed, though not without apt reason. Anderson began his foray into the world of music as Internet Death with the sentiments “Antifa / Punch a Nazi til I die” and “You need to find some love in your heart / But first, you need a fucking beatdown, cunt” and we’re pleased to say that Not Your Dog! does not see him chill the fuck out, but rather ramp up the aggression to a near unfathomable degree in a blistering electronic slaughter that claims white supremacists, cops, gun fetishists, and any breed of destructive moronic asshole as bloody scalps to wave with pride.
Though its pace is more deliberate than what ultimately ensues, the opening title track of Not Your Dog! quickly sets a tone of brutality redirected at those who inflict it themselves without thought or provocation, laying out heavy sheets of harsh, cluttered electronics as he screams “I’M NOT YOUR BITCH! / NO I’M NOT YOUR FUCKING DOG!” with every breath in his lungs in beat with an industrial stomp. After a sample break which mocks the alt-right fielded concept that “conservatism is the new punk rock”, it morphs into what can be described as bouncy techno, gleeful but darkly so as Anderson dances among the guts of his enemies.
“Cyber Ghouls Must Feed!” represents a shock to the system of a wholly different variety. In fact, to call it digital hardcore is misleading: it’s much closer to digital death metal, a minute and a half of rapid fire drum machine blast beats and soul swallowing growls. Single “Name of the Law!” is perhaps the most worthy of the traditional hardcore label, propulsive and vicious in a way that few songs can claim to be. “Fucckk!” meanwhile opens with an unhinged vocal meltdown fractured by a glitchy passage before re-visting the ideas first planted on the latter half of the opener. It’s on tracks such as this and “Suspect Nxmber Nxne!” where comparisons to Mindless Self Indulgence feel most appropriate with their zany compositions, though it’s not a stretch to say Internet Death, who is, again, only 16, approaches his material with considerably more maturity. MSI could often slip into shock jock territory for the sake of it, whereas while Anderson is a big fan of colorful language, he’s quite a bit better at the justification for it. As a whole, the eccentricity of Not Your Dog! may actually be more in line with that of The Garden’s brand of political bizarro punk.
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t bring attention to “Will Change!” and closer “Paradox!”, both of which mark moments of comparative levity. “Will Change!” is still quite forceful in the delivery of its message, yet still mark a moment where melody takes lead over rhythm. “Paradox!” however, ends the album on a rather relaxed note with a vapor-touched drum and bass instrumental. The infer messaged is that by the end of Not Your Dog!, 20 minutes straight of shouting about all the dumb shit in the world, Anderson is exhausted. He doesn’t want to be angry anymore, he wants things to be better (though he’ll stay pissed as long as he has too).
It’s hard not to be incredibly excited for the future of a kid with this much versatility, vision, and most importantly, passion. A bonafide soundtrack to the revolution once the heads start rolling, Not Your Dog! is top grade “punch a Nazi til you die” music.
You can stream Internet Death’s Not Your Dog! below:
Favorite tracks: “Not Your Dog!”, “Name of the Law!”, “Will Change!”
Rating: Strongly Recommended
‘Not Your Dog!’ is out July 3rd on MUZAI Records and is available for pre-order here now. You can follow Internet Death on Facebook and Bandcamp to keep up-to-date with his work.
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