Subscribe to my YouTube channel right here!

Massively influential New Jersey mathcore-slash-metalcore band Deadguy is back with their first new record in 30 years titled Near Death Travel Services, and it sounds both like a band that’s been gone for three decades and like a band that never stopped doing what they were doing in the first place. I know that might sound contradictory, but stick with me. It’ll make sense in a minute.

But before we dig into that, let’s take a quick trip back in time for a little context. Because to really understand what makes this comeback so meaningful and impactful in 2025, you kind of have to understand where Deadguy came from and what they meant to heavy music. Deadguy formed in 1994 and wasted no time making a name for themselves in the underground with two pretty prominent 7″ releases, those being White Meat and Work Ethic. Then about one year later, in 1995, Deadguy dropped their cult classic Fixation on a Co-Worker, which was a jagged and chaotic album that would go on to be loved by so many people over the years. It was noisy, it was confrontational, and it was totally unhinged.

And keep in mind that Fixation on a Co-Worker was also released at the dawn of what we’d all call mathcore at the time. This is around the time that bands like Converge, Botch, and Coalesce were just getting started, and bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan didn’t even exist yet.

But just as quickly as the momentum built for Deadguy, the wheels started to come off pretty much just as fast. In the middle of what would become a notoriously grueling tour around Fixation on a Co-Worker, two core members of Deadguy – those being guitarist Keith Huckins and vocalist Tim Singer – left the band.

Despite the departures, Deadguy kept going with a reworked lineup and released the Screamin’ with the Deadguy Quintet EP in 1997. The EP marked a pretty notable shift in Deadguy’s sound and just didn’t really capture the magic of Fixation on a Co-Worker, which makes sense considering the lineup change — if you lose your guitarist and your vocalist, obviously things are gonna sound a little bit different. Screamin’ also had some of the most unfortunate artwork of the ’90s mathcore/metalcore/hardcore scene, and let’s just not pretend otherwise. The artwork for Screamin’ is just straight-up bad. I mean, look at it.

About a year later in 1997, Deadguy played what would be their final show for a good long time in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and just like that, they were gone. Fast forward a couple of decades, and the idea of a Deadguy reunion seemed more like wishful thinking than any kind of realistic possibility. But in 2021, out of nowhere, Deadguy reemerged to play Decibel’s Metal & Beer Festival in Philadelphia. The show crushed. Deadguy sounded great, and that show even got released as a live album called Buyer’s Remorse on Decibel Records. It was their first show in 25 years, and they definitely did not miss a beat. Which you can prove to yourself anytime you want by just going and listening to Buyer’s Remorse or watching any of the footage that has surfaced on YouTube. They sounded fantastic.

Deadguy started playing more shows here and there, and in 2022 they even released a 7″ titled Body Parts. The release featured the never-before-heard track “Body Parts”, along with an early version of “Die With Your Mask On”, which were both recorded with Steve Evetts back in February of 1994 during the White Meat sessions. It wasn’t new material in the present-tense sense, but it was a glimpse into Deadguy‘s earliest days and something to offer fans during their comeback.

Then in 2023, Deadguy all of a sudden started playing new material live. At first, it was just the song “Barn Burner”, but more songs started cropping up as the shows went on. This all brings us to April 2025, when Deadguy made it official. They’d signed with Relapse Records and were releasing their first full-length album in 30 years, titled Near Death Travel Services.

But why now? Why come back at all? And more importantly, why decide to release an album that far out from your debut? According to Deadguy guitarist Dave Rosenberg in an interview with Decibel: “Our view had always been that the nostalgia thing is fun for a little while, but the only way we thought this was going to be interesting was to write new songs—partially to see if we could do it, and partially because there’s some unfinished business. No question about that. It was a big catharsis in a lot of ways, but it was also a fuck you.”

But more importantly — and the question that you kind of have to ask yourself with every band who reunites and puts out their first new album in however many years — is: was this vital? Was this needed? Was this necessary? Is this good? Does this live up to the band’s legacy? And the answer in this instance is “absolutely yes. Oh my god, this record is awesome.”

Musically, Near Death Travel Services is a blend of brute force and subtle complexity. It hits really hard, but there’s a calculating logic behind every blow. Every track sounds like it was engineered to wreck you, but in its own unique way. I’d go as far as saying that Near Death Travel Services is more focused and more violent than Fixation on a Co-Worker. This isn’t someone just throwing punches in the dark hoping they land a haymaker right on your jaw. It’s a guy with night vision goggles hunting you down in the dark and pummeling the crap out of you.

Take, for instance, the opener, “Kill Fee”, because it immediately makes the case for Deadguy being a band 30 years later within the first 10 seconds. “Kill Fee” comes ripping out of your speakers with the force of a band much younger than Deadguy and with the conviction of a band that’s been around even longer than Deadguy. “Kill Fee” also kicks things off by offering the listener a shred of hope at the opening line: “We are the freaks, and we dare to believe there is a place for us in this world.” So you get a little bit of positivity before, again, they just start punching you right in the face.

It’s hard to pick highlights on Near Death Travel Services, because the record operates in these gradations of anger. It’s not that each song blends into one another and makes for a boring listen. It’s more like an Alex Schaefer painting — there’s a lot of violence and fire going on, and you really need to focus on the brushstrokes instead of just getting lost in the entire picture itself.

A pretty good summation of Near Death Travel Services comes right at the middle of the record. “The Forever People” showcases Deadguy‘s ability to go longer and really play with dynamics and speed. “War With Strangers” leans into an almost sludge-like atmosphere with a filthy bass intro before everything slowly devolves into a less organized chaos. And then “Knife Sharpener” pops its head in to quickly let you know that you’re about to become human paste on the pavement.

Another one of the best moments on Near Death Travel Services is the closer, “Wax Princess”. Imagine if, like, an early Dillinger Escape Plan song got doused in molasses and set on fire. It moves slowly but deliberately. And again—those lyrics, man. Those lyrics are just so good. Singer laments the state of the world with lyrics like: “They build you a cage and they call it a kingdom. They step on your neck and call it freedom. They reach out a hand just to pick your pockets.”

And just when it seems like things can’t get any darker, Deadguy throws in that unmistakable AI-generated TikTok voice — the one you’ve probably heard narrating recipe videos, and cleaning hacks, and dancing, and whatever the case is — and it calmly assures you that everything is gonna be fine. Don’t worry about it.

And the juxtaposition is just so jarring that it’s almost funny, but it lands really hard. It’s the perfect Deadguy move and the perfect way to end the album. It’s bleak, it’s biting, and it’s a little absurd. It’s the overarching hand of the world reaching down and saying “everything is going to be fine,” because that’s what it needs you to believe — not what you yourself have concluded based on everything that you’ve seen.

So yeah, back to that original idea — Near Death Travel Services sounds like a band that vanished for three decades and like one that never stopped. It captures the fury and unpredictability of Fixation on a Co-Worker but filters it through the bitter wisdom of age and 30 years of just being a person in this world. This is not a retread. Deadguy did not mellow with time. They got meaner, sharper, and more deliberate. They’re not interested in giving you what you want. They’re interested in giving you what you deserve.

In 2025, for me, Near Death Travel Services is an easy nine out of ten. If you loved Fixation on a Co-Worker, you’re gonna find a lot to love here. It’s the same fury, but now funneled through years of frustration and real-life horror and personal experiences and just being alive.

And I’ll be honest—I was a little skeptical when I first heard Deadguy was putting out new music after all this time. We’ve seen too many comeback records that feel like half-baked attempts to cash in on a name. And this is not that. This is the real deal. This is a bunch of guys making music that they genuinely believe in, and you can hear it on every single second on this record. Deadguy was vital to heavy music in 1995—and against all odds, they’re vital to heavy music again in 2025.

There is no nostalgia required to listen to this record and to enjoy it and to really appreciate it and to really get into it. And if you don’t believe me, the Near Death Travel Services is open 24/7 and waiting. Call them up. They’ll tell you.