There’s very few quote unquote math rock bands that occupy the same echelon as bands like Dazzling Killmen. Sure, the St. Louis powerhouse always had elements of the genre present in their sound thanks to Albini-assisted recordings and their raw, rugged delivery. But in a much more tangible reality, math rock was scared of Dazzling Killmen.
There was just something different about them, and even when going through their discography now, it’s hard to pinpoint why. Just take one listen to their eponymous Face of Collapse, which more or less served as their introduction for the masses – the way it mixes focused, vaguely thematic, highly combustible post-hardcore is nigh unreproducible.
But before that album lurched out of Steve Albini’s studio to intimidate everyone that heard it, there was Dig Out the Switch, an album oozing with secret sauce, but also, more space to smear it around than on Face of Collapse.
Thankfully, it’s finally getting a re-release / remaster courtesy of SKiN GRAFT Records, out September 12th. Get your first taste and pre-order it below:
“Originally released in 1992, “Dig Out the Switch” captures Dazzling Killmen in their formative state: raw, volatile, and pushing hardcore to the brink of musical combustion. Engineered by Steve Albini (rest in power) and produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy (that’s not a typo), the album is equal parts pensive and panicked.
There’s more space here than on 1994’s genre-defining “Face of Collapse” – longer silences, stranger structures – but the DNA is unmistakable. Darin Gray’s bass anchors the chaos with geometric slabs of melody. Blake Fleming’s drumming rolls and twitches like an oncoming panic attack. And Nick Sakes’ guitar is pure sheets-of-sound clanging – the perfect foil to the vocal cords he pushes past the pain threshold on tracks like “Serpentarium” and “Bottom Feeder.” The rhythm section’s jazz schooling is evident, but thanks to Sakes’ untrained attack, so is the post-punk impulse to destroy what you’ve just built.
Fully remastered and repackaged, this edition of “Dig Out the Switch” brings a landmark album back into focus – restoring the tension, grime, and urgency that influenced a generation of math rock, noise, and experimental hardcore acts to come.”
It really is kind of a fun game to try to calculate the influence these guys had throughout the 90’s, as underground as they stayed. Maybe that commitment to the underground is part of it, but on the flip side, you can hear their influence in tracks from The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Nine Inch Nails, even – but that’s for another time.
Again, you’re reading this, you’re already more than likely familiar with the craters Dazzling Killmen have created. But for fans of Drill for Absentee, Drive Like Jehu, Unsane, and Shellac that for some reason haven’t cracked the Killmen nut yet, we assure you, now is the time, and if you’re in the area, see ’em live at the dates below:
Sept. 23 Troy, NY – No Fun – with Sky Furrows and STROMA
Sept. 24 Brooklyn, NY – The Meadows with Couch Slut
Sept 25 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar – with Pageninetynine, Great Falls, Multicult
Sept. 26 Richmond, VA – Dark Days Bright Nights Fest with Uniform, Cherubs, Couch Slut, Crippling Alcoholism
Sept. 27 Philadelphia, PA – Foto Club with Eye Flys, My Wife Is An Angel, Nympho
Nov. 20 Minneapolis- Cloudland with Vaz and Arctic Universe
Nov. 21 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle with Dead Rider and Big’n
Nov. 22 St. Louis, MO – Red Flag with Ultraman and Ring, Cicada
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