“Are you in, or in the way?”
There’s a lot of value in being direct. While I’m a big proponent of grandiose concepts within songs, whether or not they harbour a deeper meaning beneath, sometimes you just need to get mad. You see that kind of pissed off, no-holds-barred attitude in a lot of younger hardcore bands, but I feel, even in the most political of metalcore bands, there’s a tendency to wax poetic and veil a message in a coat of palatable paint. Stray From The Path have never been one such band, and, love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can’t say they aren’t passionate about what they believe in.
The thing is, too, I don’t believe a lot of the things Drew Dijorio discusses in his lyrics are up for much debate. Racism and xenophobia have proven to be increasingly prevalent issues in society. Corrupt and violent policing has reached a point of critical mass. Wealth inequality is affecting the working class more than ever before. The list can go on, and as much as people who may be afraid to take a hardline stance, or simply face reality may say otherwise, these are facts of life, as evidenced by the lived experience of millions of people. Stray From The Path recognise these injustices, use their platform to, rightfully and effectively, provide a voice for those who are afflicted daily by these issues.
From the very first track of Euthanasia, Dijorio asks a powerful question: “Are you in, or in the way?”. Setting this confrontational tone from the get-go, working in synergy with the track’s hard-as-nails instrumental, gives the record a sense of heft and weight from its opening moments. Firing on all cylinders, “Needful Things” sets a tone of visceral rage that is carried throughout a majority of Euthanasia’s tracklist. Occasionally, the record will pull back to allow for heightened melodics to take the forefront, such as on masterfully emotional cut “Bread & Roses”, whose ethereal chorus, led by Stick To Your Guns’ Jesse Barnett, proves to be one of the strongest standout moments across Euthanasia. But, as a whole, Euthanasia is a record defined by one notion: rage.
“Send them to the furnace, thank you for your service,” Dijorio chants on “Chest Candy”, a condemnation of the military industrial complex and the way it dehumanises those serving. It’s a powerful message to send, and one that may be quite a tough pill to swallow for some, but it’s an important one to send to those with military aspirations: the corporations and powers that run the military only consider you a number, a means to an end. If you die, they’ll replace you with someone else, and the cycle repeats. “Chest Candy” asks you to evaluate exactly what they’re fighting for too, and if that’s worth the human cost that will always be inherent to military action.
Further highlights include singles “III” and “Guillotine”, the former of which’s direct call-to-action against police brutality provides some of the most aggressive and biting lyricism on a record with no shortage of visceral rage. Further, drummer Craig Reynolds’ performance stands out on this track and beyond. Utilizing a masterful blend of techniques, from tight grooves to pummelling blasts, Reynolds’ performance across Euthanasia is truly something to behold.
Closer “Ladder Work” tops off Euthanasia with a nihilistic view of how the world seems past the point of no return. Seeming to be a commentary on how society refuses to widely accept the effects global warming will have on future generations, Dijorio laments “As the fires encased the sky, I am reminded one last time, we could’ve gone in grace together.” It’s an aptly depressing conclusion to a record that highlights just how fucked the state of the world is right now, and how, unless hardline action is taken, there may never be a future generation to protect. As the song’s closing riff drones on and the sound of flames engulfing the earth overtake, Euthanasia’s final moments paint a bleak picture of humanity’s future, should we let things continue as they are.
As alluded to in the introductory paragraph, I think what makes Euthanasia’s messaging on these tracks so effective is just how direct each and every song here is. In a similar vein to how Rage Against The Machine quite literally raged against the machine that, to this day, perpetuates the many social injustices of the world, through an intentioned effort to directly speak truth to power, Stray From The Path carry the torch in providing just what the world needs to hear: the cold hard truth. Proving to have no interest in mincing words, or veiling their views through the use of clever metaphor, Euthanasia is a record chock full of direct, visceral anger, and given the state of the world right now, that’s an incredibly valuable quality. This is an album that will almost certainly piss people off, and I can’t stress enough just how good of a thing that is. We need action, we need change, and the time for ineffectual fence-sitting and dancing around the point to appease a wider audience is over.
Even aside from its powerful messaging, though, on a musical level Euthanasia demonstrates a long-tenured metalcore act at the very top of their game. Very little time or energy feels wasted in the album’s dense 39-minute runtime, and that’s a testament to just how refined Stray From The Path’s songwriting has become. While I have previously felt that Stray were a group on the precipice of reaching their full potential on a musical level, Euthanasia shows that potential realised and employed in full-force.
9/10
Euthanasia will be available this Friday, September 9th via UNFD, and you can find pre-orders for the record here.