Dead Cross Offer Second Preview of 'II' with 'Heart Reformer' Single

Dead Cross, the SoCal band featuring Michael Crain, Dave Lombardo, Mike Patton and Justin Pearson, release a second single from their forthcoming album II (Oct. 28, Ipecac Recordings) with today's release of "Heart Reformer" and its accompanying video.

"'Heart Reformer' was as much fun to write as it is to listen to," says Crain of the song. "It's a classic Dead Cross song. It's a pit stirrer and a fist pumper!" The short-film like clip, which takes the track's title literally, was directed and edited by Dark Details (a.k.a. Chris J. Cunningham)

The band broke the news of II's impending arrival with the release of "Reign of Error," a track Stereogum described as a "freaked-out, blisteringly fast" single, and Consequence said "is a blaster, with Lombardo's double-kick drum anchoring the controlled chaos." The one-minute and forty-five second wake-up call of a song is matched with a Displaced/Replaced-crafted clip that offers a scathing critique of the U.S. Supreme Court. Loudwire described the clip as "INSANE" and Brooklyn Vegan dubbed it "apocalyptic."

II, while both a raucous hardcore collection, and at times, a politically-charged opus, has its roots in friendship, with the band rallying together after Crain received a surprise cancer diagnosis. "Words can't even begin to describe how much this album means to me. It's birthed of pain and uncertainty," adds Crain.

"The slow, excruciatingly painful, and nauseating recovery from cancer treatments were the catalyst for every riff and note on this album. However, my will to live and be with my brothers Justin, Dave, Mike, and co-producer Ross Robinson, got me out of bed and running into the studio every day to get it all on tape."

Dead Cross released their self-titled debut album in 2017. Alternative Press deemed the 10-song collection "viciously contagious," MetalSucks said the record is "a bracing, chaotic storm of noise punk," The Needledrop deemed it "one of a kind" and Rolling Stone said Dead Cross is chock full of "charging, head-spinning ragers." A surprise, also self-titled, EP followed in 2018, with a standalone single, a cover of Black Flag's "Rise Above," released during the Summer of 2020.

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