January 2001

After ill-fated dalliances with several major labels, L. A.-based electro-doom masters Deadsy will finally have their debut album released on Korn’s Elementree label. “My whole thing is that we were never established to begin with,” says band founder Elijah Blue Allman. “So even though we have a history, we haven’t had a history. At this point and evermore, everything is malleable."  For the Elementree release of Commencement (which has existed in various widely bootlegged forms for four years), the band retracked four songs and added four new ones, including a cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer."  Recently, Allman has expressed an interest in death-metal bands like Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse, but he’s not totally rehauling Deadsy’s six-stringed circuitry just yet. “The reason I look to the death-metal community is because there’s a passion there, as well as an obsession with one’s craft,” he explains. “I’m trying to make the best thing that I can and hopefully it will make people think about where [bands] should be taking music.” In a world of disposable pop princesses, boy bands and tired rap-metal crackers, Allman has a decidedly different agenda. “Everything coming out is complete horseshit that is completely unacceptable and has nothing to do with a commitment to excellence. Human beings have an obligation to further human plight. If nobody’s gonna do it, then I’m gonna step up to the fuckin’ plate.”