DEATH-METAL QUARTET DELIVERS SKULL-CRUSHING SONGS INSPIRED BY SERIAL KILLERS, ABOMINATIONS, AND HUMAN ANNIHILATION
Written by Johnny Pop
Display Of Decay’s art is not only visually grotesque, but audibly as well. Their decimation riffage complemented with demonic growls make the band a death-metal equivalent to blunt-force human torture in a secret lair. Even Display Of Decay’s name was ripped straight out of a fucked-up nightmare.
“A friend of mine was talking about this dream where he had eaten all of us around a fire,” says guitarist Sean Watson. “Another friend named Devon had coined the heavily detailed scene as a 'Display of Decay.' Early on in high school, we had used the name for talent shows, and eventually, it just stuck.”
The band’s lyrics read like the diary of a serial-killer who takes pleasure in disfiguration and dismemberment. Their new record Art In Mutilation showcases some kind of abomination conducting experiments on a brutalized human corpse. The album’s first single, “Forced Frontal Lobotomy” seems to be about someone creating a race of robotic killing machines to wipe out human existence.
“The general direction of lyrical content for death metal pretty much drives between religion or horror,” Watson says. “I'm not a religious person, and have no interest in the subject or the culture and have always felt the need to stray away from that subject. I've always been a fan of horror movies and found the psyche of serial killers to be fascinating, which in turn led to the direction of the writing. And let's be honest, shock factor plays a huge key in death metal.”
Art In Mutilation is an evolution in the band’s evil sound. They recorded the album at the Grid in Montreal. When it comes to their overall approach to songwriting on this record, Watson concludes.
“There's never been a general theme to Display of Decay, only to progress in all fields, both musically and lyrically. We wanted to write a more technical album than anything previously written but also to retain that sense of groove that's been embedded in our sound for over a decade.”