Album Review: Duel, Breakfast With Death

Posted in Reviews on August 2nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan

duel breakfast with death

Alright, buckle up, because it’s time to get theoretical. What if Duel have been thrash all along?

Sit with that for a minute and think about what it might mean. I’m not saying the Austin, Texas, four-piece — whose fifth album, Breakfast With Death, arrives via Heavy Psych Sounds with sinister, chipped-tooth grins a-plenty across its air-tight nine songs/38 minutes — are just that, necessarily. They’ve never sounded specifically like they’re aiming for the kind of ground one might expect Exodus or Kreator to cover, or even necessarily High on Fire. But as they delve further along the lines of brash-gnash burl offered by 2021’s In Carne Persona (review here) with ever sharper turns and a presence in the recording bolstered through lead guitarist/backing vocalist Jeff Henson‘s emergence as a producer for his own band and a slew of others — rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist Tom Frank also produced; Henson engineered and mixed, and Alberto de Icaza mastered — the vision of sound from which Duel are working has become accordingly more refined beneath its outward grit. And they revel in nasty. Hearing them at their most aggressive, in songs like “Chaos Reigns” or the bruising closer “Burn the Earth,” FrankHenson, bassist/backing vocalist Drew Potter and drummer Patrick “Scooch” Pascucci are downright gleeful in their charge.

Eight years on from their debut, 2016’s Fears of the Dead (review here), it’s not that this is something new. Instead, it’s a core feature of what makes Duel the band they are. An essential characteristic of their work is the element of danger that the whole thing might unravel even as their grip on craft gets tighter. But while Breakfast With Death is also the most punk rock they’ve been in cuts like “Ancient Moonlight” and “Satan’s Invention” at the outset, the second half of the penultimate “Greet the Dead” and the catchy Ramones-y centerpiece “Pyro,” they’re also unquestionably a metal band. And a heavy rock band. So where does thrash come in? Thrash rock, maybe, if not thrash metal (though I don’t think they’d shy away from being called a metal band either, even if it’s not a complete encapsulation)? How is it that, along with the hook in “Chaos Reigns,” I can’t get the idea of Duel as a thrash band out of my frickin’ head?

Well, on the most basic level, a lot of what the do is fast. And if you have metal — which you do, as any number of the dual solos, anti-dogma lyrics and intentions toward violence throughout highlight — and you have punk, at a certain point that math is going to get you to speedy, careening grooves and the furious, headbanging thrust that takes hold after the drum-fill intro to “Fallacy” and the earliest-Metallica riff at the root of “Berserker.” But with Duel, it’s as much about the uncompromising ethic from which their work arises as it is about tempo. They’re not without dynamic — “Burn the Earth” unveils a pummel that’s clearly been held in reserve for the end of the record, the backing vocals that are such a part of the first impression in the lead verse of “Ancient Moonlight,” then show up again in “Satan’s Invention” as well as the call and response that resolves “Chaos Reigns” after the shredding solo, showcasing an element of forward growth that’s been taking place in their studio work all along — but they leave no question that their heart is in the shove that moves the listener from one end of Breakfast With Death to the other. That physicality is central to their purpose, here and elsewhere in their catalog. It’s what makes them such a fiery live act as well, and maybe that’s what’s underlying all the energy and force of delivery that seems to manifest in the recording here. Who Duel are onstage.

duel

This would account for the swagger and scorch with which “Ancient Moonlight” leads off, as well as the focus on shorter, more immediate cuts generally. Duel have never been ones for subtlety, but their maturity seems to find them focused on how songs would work as part of a setlist, and just about all of Breakfast With Death would. It’s maybe not such a stark shift from what their approach has been since the beginnings of the band, but if one regards their albums as stages — or in terms now decidedly Swiftian, ‘eras’ — then each has been a step in terms of progress from the last and sure enough, Breakfast With Death‘s nine cuts are shorter on average than the nine of In Carne Persona, and at whatever angle a given song is throwing elbows and stomp-kicking in a circular march, part hardcore kid, part lumbering metalhead the movement is inexorably forward. This works in the band’s favor because the songs are more than just stops along the way to the finish. “Ancient Moonlight” and “Satan’s Invention” both hint toward vocal melody in a way that Frank‘s signature gruff, shouted delivery has rarely done to this point in their tenure. Not never, but in listening it feels like more of a reason those two were selected as the opening salvo, though of course that’s not to take away from the sheer push on offer in that particular seven-plus-minute stretch, either.

One could argue the commitment to representing their live show ‘on tape’ is an element born out of thrashier impulses as well, but to my ears it’s more about how Duel wear what they do on their sleeve. I’m not trying to downplay either the classic heavy rock dynamic between the two guitars, the punk, the heavy, the metal or anything else that has let them speak to multiple niches over the last eight years, but increasingly over that time, Duel know who they are, know what they’re about as a band, and are going to hit you with that in a straightforward, defiantly unpretentious way as hard as they can. Breakfast With Death hits enough marks to let one honestly say they shift gears here and there, but as with Kreator, or Destruction, or the best of Slayer, you know as a listener going into a record who you’re dealing with and what they do, and increasingly, Duel benefit from the expectation of that kind of intensity-as-priority as they continue to evolve as songwriters and performers. It suits them, and that they meet the high standards they set for themselves is no less an aspect of their identity at this point than anything aurally wrought in their material.

Duel, Breakfast With Satan (2024)

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Duel Summer European Tour Starts Aug. 6

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

duel

The new Duel album, Breakfast With Satan, came out earlier this month on Heavy Psych Sounds, and to no surprise whatsoever, the Austin-based purveyors of heavy charge will waste no time getting out to support it. If you’ve never seen the four-piece live — or if you have, for that matter — and are presented with the opportunity, you’d be doing yourself a favor by doing so. I won’t say a bad word about their records, unless you want to count “fuck yeah” and make me put a coin in the imaginary swear jar, but they’re a stage band all the way. The grit and grime and just-barely-on-the-rail-seeming shove of their studio work, hand-delivered with metallic vitality right to your waning eardrums. They’ve got a couple fests on this Euro jaunt starting Aug. 6, but most of it is club shows, which is a context in which they shine. Not that ringing or over an open European field doesn’t also work, but there’s something electric about their sound bouncing off the back wall to club your skull while on the other side your face is being melted.

Good band? Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m saying. Here there be tour dates, as posted by their label, the esteemed Heavy Psych Sounds:

duel poster

Europe!!! Duel will be coming your way next month so don’t miss them!!! And be sure to pick up their new LP Breakfast With Death from us at www.heavypsychsounds.com

TU 06.08.24 DE MANNHEIM – ALTER
WE 07.08.24 DE JENA – KUBA
TH 08.08.24 DE DRESDEN – CHEMIEFABRIK
FR 09.08.24 DE MARIENTHAL – HOFLÄRM
SA 10.08.24 DE MUNSTER – RARE GUITAR
SU 11.08.24 DE TÜBINGEN – NULL8-15
MO 12.08.24 IT VERONA – FINE DI MONDO
TU 13.08.24 IT SEZZADIO – CASCINA BELLARIA
WE 14.08.24 IT SAN ZENONE – VILLA ALBRIZZI
TH 15.08.24 IT FRANCAVILLA – FRANTIC FEST
FR 16.08.24 FR CHAMBERY – BRIN DE ZINC
SA 17.08.24 FR ***OPEN SLOT***
SU 18.08.24 FR CARHAIX – MOTOCULTOR FEST
TU 20.08.24 FR PARIS – SUPERSONIC
WE 21.08.24 BE BRUSSELS – LA SOURCE
TH 22.08.24 UK BRIGHTON – THE GREEN DOOR STORE
FR 23.08.24 UK LONDON – BLACK HEART
SA 24.08.24 UK MILTON KEYNES – CRAUFURD ARMS
SU 25.08.24 UK SHEFFIELD – COSMIC VIBRATION

DUEL is
Tom Frank – lead vocals & guitar
Jeff Henson – lead guitar & backing vocals
Patrick “Scooch” Pascucci – Drums
Drew Potter – bass & backing vocals

https://www.facebook.com/DUELTEXAS/
https://www.instagram.com/dueltexas/
https://duel3.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

Duel, Breakfast With Satan (2024)

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Duel to Release Breakfast with Death July 5

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

duel

As much as I’ve gotten used to following the word Duel in a headline with some geographical region or other the Austin-based heavy rockers will be touring — and no doubt I’ll be back to that in soon enough — I’m glad to see word of their fifth album, Breakfast with Death, come down the PR wire. It hasn’t been that long since 2021’s notably driven In Carne Persona (review here), and even less since their 2023 live album, Live at Hellfest (review here), so cheers to them on continued restlessness. Taking on the first single, “Satan’s Invention,” believe them when they call it a “Thin Lizzy sequel,” and if you can’t get on board with the charge they bring to that, well, you’re probably not reading this in the first place, so whatever. That’s life in the age where everyone curates their own shit.

For the rest of us, “Satan’s Invention” has a little more room in the recording for Duel to unleash that charge, and reminds that while they’ve always been straight-shooters in terms of structure, their output has never wanted for atmosphere alongside its physicality. They are among the finest good-times-in-dark-sounds stage bands the US heavy rock underground has to offer, and their records have consistently brought that electricity to bear. I would expect no less going into Breakfast with Death, as they continue to work to their own high standard.

From the PR wire:

duel breakfast with death

Austin heavy metal revelers DUEL share first track off new album “Breakfast With Death”, coming out July 5th on Heavy Psych Sounds.

Austin, Texas heavy rock spearhead DUEL will release their fifth full-length “Breakfast With Death” this July 5th on Heavy Psych Sounds, with a rip-roaring first track streaming right now.

Look who got up on the wrong side of the bed! “Breakfast With Death” is the fifth studio album by Austin Texas stoner metal riff dealers DUEL: nine angry, blistering tracks flexing the faster and heavier side of the thunderous foursome. Every song is a beer-soaked banger capturing the ferocity of the band’s legendary live performances.

About this fist-pumping new track, the band comments: “I don’t believe in the devil! Hell is a place here on Earth! Satan’s invention is a 4-minute Thin Lizzy-sequel rocker exploring the evils of man and the illusions of life. The countless lies we are fed from birth to death. All at a beat you can dance to!”

New album “Breakfast With Death”
Out July 5th on Heavy Psych Sounds (LP/CD/digital)

Shop preorder – https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS311

Bandcamp preorder – https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/duel-breakfast-with-death

TRACKLIST:
Side A:
1. Ancient Moonlight
2. Satan’s Invention
3. Chaos Reigns
4. Fallacy
5. Pyro
Side B
6. Berserker
7. Tigers of Destruction
8. Greet The Dead
9. Burn The Earth

Recorded and mixed by Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch
Produced by Jeff Henson and Tom Frank
Mastered by Alberto de Icaza
all songs by DUEL

DUEL is
Tom Frank – lead vocals & guitar
Jeff Henson – lead guitar & backing vocals
Patrick “Scooch” Pascucci – Drums
Drew Potter – bass & backing vocals

https://www.facebook.com/DUELTEXAS/
https://www.instagram.com/dueltexas/
https://duel3.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/
http://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

Duel, “Satan’s Invention”

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