D.R.I. Working on First New Release Since 1995

Good news, crossover fans: Kurt Brecht, vocalist for the legendary D.R.I., tells The Phoenix New Times that “the band is busy finalizing artwork and liner notes” for a new EP — their first offering in more than twenty years — which they hope to release “soon.” Brecht says the EP is intended “to test the waters” and “see how much interest there really is” in new music from D.R.I. In other words: if this goes well, there could be more new D.R.I. music in our future.

Brecht also gives fans some sense of how the EP may sound:

Though they’ve been heavy on the metal sound since their Crossover release in 1987, the soon-to-be-released EP gets back to their hardcore punk roots. Even though the music changed, Brecht’s vocal style has always kept the hardcore heart beating in D.R.I.’s music. With the new songs, the whole band is making that trip back to the past with him.

“It’s more old school hardcore,” he says. “It’s straightforward, without the metal guitar sound.”

That said, he’s not interested in totally saying goodbye to metal.

“I’m more into the hardcore myself, but it’s okay if we keep the metal because we mix it all together,” he says.

One cannot overstate the importance of D.R.I.’s role in uniting the metal and hardcore fanbases; it seems crazy in the post-metalcore era, but once upon a time, those were two very distinct crowds.

But does D.R.I. still have anything significant to offer all these years later? Hey, now that so many other bands have reunited and released stellar new music, it doesn’t seem implausible, does it?

More info as we get it…

[via Lambgoat]