DEATH RAY VISION: NOT QUITE AN OVERCAST REUNION, BUT PRETTY CLOSE
Back in 2008, legendary metalcore pioneers Overcast — who went on to be in a couple ofsmaller bands you may have heard of, like Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage — got back together to re-record some old tunes for a collection called Reborn to Kill Again. When that album was released, I interviewed vocalist Brian Fair (also of the aforementioned Shadows Fall), and I asked him if Overcast might ever write some new music together. His answer?
“We’ve actually talked about it because Pete [Cortese, guitarist] and Mike [D’Antonio, bassist] definitely have ideas for songs. We just have to make sure that they’re Overcast songs, you know? And not just a Pete song. Like I said, it has to be tuned to E and there has to be a mosh part that goes nowhere and there has to be random time changes for no reason. All those things have to be there in order to make it an Overcast song. We’re definitely not opposed to [writing and recording new material]. It may or may not happen, it depends on if the songs are quality.”
Well, I guess somewhere along the way these dudes either decided that these songs are not “Overcast songs,” or otherwise decided that it just wasn’t Overcast without guitarist Scott McCooe and drummer Jay Fitzgerald, or, uh, something else — because the band’s three most famous alumni (In case you’re dumb: D’Antonio went on to join KsE, Cortese went on to join Seemless) are now reuniting to form a new band called Death Ray Vision.
The line-up is rounded out by guitarist Zach Wells and drummer Colin Conway, neither of whose prior work I’m familiar with (or, if I’m familiar with their prior work, I’m not aware that I am). The band has yet to release any new music, but as our friends at Metal Insider cracked, “we have a hunch that Overcast’s influence will have some sort of effect on the sound.”
So, like, why is this band getting together now? I’d wager the fact that D’Antonio’s fellow Killswitchers, Adam D. and Joel Strudel, are currently on tour with former KsE (and, coincidentally, Seemless) vocalist Jesse Leach in Times of Grace has something to do with it. (Metal Insider points out that some of the other Shads have their own side project, too.) But it’s also probably just that these dudes legitimately like working together, and now that they’re like a gajillion times more famous than they were in their Overcast days, people will actually pay attention.
Sooo… yeah. More news on this new project as we get it!
Now if only the dudes from Blood Has Been Shed could get their shed together…
-AR
