Exclusive Premiere: Nekroí Theoí, “Blue Shirt // White Hood”
Wait, you prefer your metal free of politics? Kindly turn around and go right out that door. Perhaps this site is a better place for you.
For those of you still with us, we are thrilled to present you with the world premiere of “Blue Shirt // White Hood,” the first single off the debut album from Nekroi Theoi, death metal newcomers who combine the genre’s trademark brutality with sludge, doom, general noisery and a passionate penchant for social issues. Formed in 2015 by JJ Polachek (Monotheist, 7 Horns 7 Eyes), Mark Gonzalez, and Dustin Rogers from the ashes of Ovid’s Withering, the group released last year’s Ouroboros of Shit EP (incredible title!) which featured Dan Weyandt (Zao) on guest vocals. Polachek, a vocal critic of initialized religion as well as all injustices, uses Nekroi Theoi as a platform for his and the band’s critiques of society as well as their own personal struggles.
Polachek tells MetalSucks about the inspiration behind writing “Blue Shirt, White Hood:”
“Early on in the album writing process I knew I wanted to directly confront the issue of racist police brutality in a song, but the main concern was how to do that properly. I initially thought about the fact that we are a brutal death band, and now might be the perfect time to embellish in some gory lyrics and revenge fantasies. Trouble is I don’t give a shit about gore and I could not find it in me to write about something that bores me. Also so many other bands have done that before, better than I could, and there would be no way it wouldn’t be disingenuous from me.
“Thusly I decided to approach this as soberly as I could. I consciously chose to avoid getting too macho with it and by keeping it grounded in the dismal reality that there is a systematic problem that can only be ignored if you choose to ignore it. The truth is that if you pay any attention at all you see blatant, malicious patterns in the function of the police. There is hard data and analysis that leads to no other conclusion. The institution of the police itself, from its inception, is corrupt. Their legal function is to protect private property, not serve humanity, and this has become obvious in increasingly grim and morbid ways. The targeting of minorities, particularly black communities, is undeniable when you look at their actions even in the slightest amount of greater context.
“This is not identity politics. This is a truth that people have to face directly, materially, every day. A truth with a massive body count. A body count that you can find records of, ad nauseam, easily. I want to make it as clear as possible that I don’t have any desire to be a mouthpiece for this issue, as I’m on the side of it that gets away with dumb bullshit other people wouldn’t. But no one seems to be talking about this to any significant extent in death metal, and it needs to be addressed. Centrism has failed us, and people are fucking dead. If the least I can do is be a vehicle to bring this topic to light in a culture that ignores it at large, I’m gonna do that. I’m not an authority on it by any means, but what I can be is a white dude telling my fellow white dudes to maybe pay attention to things that don’t only effect white dudes.
“Additionally, everyone would do well to watch this very educational, accessible, and PROPERLY CITED Contrapoints video on the matter. I’m aware a YouTube link in a quote is weird, but fuck it, we’re not talking about some mythical lore bullshit, this is a topic that fucking matters.
“We are approaching this in good faith, as people who seek nothing but truth and solving the problem. To solve it, we all need a clear picture of it. That picture is ugly. We can’t look away anymore.”
Boom. You can look at the song’s lyrics at the bottom of this post as you watch the video.
Nekroi Theoi’s debut album Dead Gods comes out May 31st via Prosthetic Records; pre-order here.
“Blue Shirt // White Hood”
In a colony founded on blood
Are we surprised to see
That blood has become its currency?
These tragedies are not defects
These are functions of the host
We purge each visible blemish
But the whole of the organism is corrupt in origin
As such it thrives on exploitation
And fuels this infernal engine with a deliberate violence
There are bodies piled in the name of loyalty
These cases are peer reviewed by the world at large
Incentive to grow feeds the maw of injustice
Kickbacks keep the slave catchers working
The hands that feed black bodies into the belly of the machine are caked in blood
Pigs feeding pigs
Nonetheless the rhetoric of necessity must be avoided
For these soldiers of domestic slaughter are only there by choice
These men of the unholy cloth kill for pleasure
Make no mistake
There are no ultimatums
Each fallen civilian body falls in vain
The Golden Shield protecting its own
Their tethered communities left to rot with the corpses of their own
