Dead Head

"Depression Tank" marks the 20 year anniversary of Dead Head, a thrash band from Zwolle, Holland that has been pleasing fans of extreme music since its formation in 1989.
This fifth album does not suddenly introduce female vocals, keyboards, forced melodic downfalls or other misplaced ingredients into the sound of the band. Instead, it's another raw, pure and energetic work of thrash.

"Depression Tank" features mostly songs that could be considered "typically... Meer »

"Depression Tank" marks the 20 year anniversary of Dead Head, a thrash band from Zwolle, Holland that has been pleasing fans of extreme music since its formation in 1989.
This fifth album does not suddenly introduce female vocals, keyboards, forced melodic downfalls or other misplaced ingredients into the sound of the band. Instead, it's another raw, pure and energetic work of thrash.

"Depression Tank" features mostly songs that could be considered "typically Dead Head", but also offers a couple of songs adding to the variety, notably "Daemonique" being the band's first ever love song and "Nero Dies", one of the few mid-tempo-only songs that the band has ever Recorded. "Depression Tank" is the first Dead Head album featuring new singer/bassplayer Ralph de Boer, who did a great job.

Previously...
Forming in March of 1989, Dead Head set out to become the fastest and most extreme thrash band ever. The band recorded two demo's filled with hectic and somewhat chaotic thrash, that went down really well in the underground world of tape trading. In addition, the band played with many 'big names' very early in their career, for instance doing an 8-date tour with Carcass before even having signed a record deal.
However, since thrash was not really the flavor of the week in the early nineties, landing a record deal proved to be quite a struggle. Considering the band sold over 2500 demo tapes worldwide by mail order, they should 'in that stage' have done a self released album and build it slowly from there.
Instead, they put their hope into a small German label, that subsequently fucked up the mastering of the debut album "The Feast Begins At Dawn"(1991). Due to it's 'de-emphasized' sound, the first Dead Head album could not really live up to the expectations that the demos had raised in previous years, resulting in mixed reviews.
A second album, entitled "Dream Deceiver"(1993), partially made up for this and got better reviews overall. This CD saw the band moving towards a slightly more structured and melodic sound, while their cooperation with a new drummer provided some technical detail to the music as well. Dead Head did two European tours to support the first two albums, in addition to many weekend shows as well as short trips to Belgium and Scandinavia.

By the mid nineties, original drummer Hans Spijker returned to the band and Dead Head had started moving back towards their original sound of frantic guitars, manic drumming and hysterical vocals. The band had just signed to the German label Shark Records, but eventually that deal folded over musical differences before anything had been released.
A third album, called "Kill Division" was fully recorded, but the band fell apart before even having approached any new labels. By then, the bandmembers had accepted that they were 'not going to be famous' and decided to concentrate on a civil career for a change.

1999 marks a new beginning. 'Kill Division' was finally released by Cold Blood Industries, a label by God Dethroned singer Henri Sattler, and the band frequently started playing shows again. Since original singer Tom van Dijk hadn't returned after the recordings of 'Kill Division', these new shows were done with younger singer/bassist Michiel Dekker (now with The Monolith Deathcult). Michiel was already a friend of the band, living down the street from guitar players Ronnie van der Wey and Robbie Woning, and sharing the same rehearsal place.

The compilation album "Come To Salem" featuring classic demos and unreleased material- was released by Hammerheart in 2000. By then, many new songs had been written and Dead Head did more shows, including some with Sadus and Exodus.

Eventually, the fourth album "Haatland" was recorded in Denmark, with producer Jacob Hansen. The album marked the return of original singer/bassist Tom van Dijk and was released by the Sweden-based label GMR/Extremity in 2005. By many "Haatland" was considered as the best Dead Head album so far: the band was operating with all four original members and had finally been able to capture their live sound on CD. "Haatland" received many positive reviews, the release was followed by a string of live shows.

Since 2006 the band has been working on new songs, eventually leading to the recording of "Depression Tank". Original singer Tom van Dijk was largely involved in the production of the CD, yet left the band before the album was finished. After this, the band brought in Ralph de Boer, also a member of Sidius, to rerecord the vocals. « Minder