REVIEW: The Last Ten Seconds of Life - The Dead Ones [2026]
Artist: The Last Ten Seconds of Life
Album: The Dead Ones
The Last Ten Seconds of Life are, at this point, a band that needs no opening exposition or introductory thought piece. Founded in 2010, now with a staggering seven-going-on-eight full length records and three EPs under their belt, they are, to an extent, a pillar within the heavy music community. Who didn’t have their mind absolutely blown listening to Invivo[Exvivo] the first time? Or maybe it was the absolutely insane guitar tone that permeated Soulless Hymns, the top-tier gang chant from 2012’s “Punishment,” the colossal percussion from Machina Non Grata…the list can go on ad nauseam. While they’ve never really “hit it big,” most people can comfortably admit that they are a band who have been consistently true to their own sound despite the tribulations that being a band for 16 years can bring. So where does this leave us? Well, frankly, it leaves us with The Dead Ones, the third release—and second full length—featuring the band’s most recent vocalist Tyler Beam. In a word, The Dead Ones is comprehensive—broadly and single-handedly capturing the entire scope of The Last Ten Seconds of Life’s sound and evolution over the last decade and a half, sounding comfortable and familiar at the same time as it pushes their sound deeper into the same frontier they’ve been exploring since their inception.
When I first read that The Dead Ones would be recorded in the same tuning as 2012’s Punishment, I knew we would be getting back into something closer to the core tenets of The Last Ten Seconds of Life’s sound—and do a point, we do. Songs like “Corruption Concerto” and “XXXXXXXXXX” (beyond the obvious reason) hearken back to the grim, bleak and ignorantly heavy days of Know Your Exits and Punishment, minimizing the off-kilter nu metallic influence in favor of simplified, skull-splitting aggression. Here, guitarist, founding member and songwriter Wyatt McLaughlin utilizes pared-down riffs and pummeling breakdowns to illustrate a sonic deathscene—but with that in mind, that is only one small fraction of the soundscape explored throughout The Dead Ones. McLaughlin works with bassist Andrew Petway and percussionist Dylan Potts throughout songs like “1-800-Do You Want to Die?” And “Rat Trap” to continue infusing uncanny and bizarre elements of alternative and nu-metal alike into their sound, forging an even sharper dichotomy between bouncy grooves and vaguely industrial riffs and otherwise world-splitting, earth-carving breakdowns. A personal favorite is “Rat Trap,” a harsh and break-neck deathcore track at heart that intermittently cuts away to dancy, punchy drumming from Potts and equally entrancing fretwork from McLaughlin. This dynamic shifts even further in favor of over alternative metal and nu metal influence with consideration of tracks like “Freak Reflection” and “Make it to Heaven,” the latter of which managing to incorporate a hefty dose of—for lack of a better term—funky writing and dynamics despite a brutalizing feature from Signs of the Swarm’s David Simonich III. In many ways, The Dead Ones takes the same oscillation between nu metal, metalcore, alternative metal and deathcore abundant on No Name Graves and condenses it into a more concentrated and focused experience, omitting filler and long track times in favor of a blistering whirlwind of a record.
Where The Last Ten Seconds of Life have previously fallen under scrutiny is often the sound and style developed following the departure of founding frontman Storm Strope—and to a point, it’s hard to argue the stranglehold Strope’s unusual vocal candor and voice had on listeners with records like Invivo and Soulless Hymns. With that said, Beam has held the band down in an outstanding way since his introduction on Disquisition on an Execution, and has only continued to grow on The Dead Ones. Beam’s work throughout the record’s title track and on cuts of pure malevolence like “1-800-Do You Want to Die?” Is nothing short of a masterclass when it comes to fusing stunning range, immense power and catchy vocal hooks—and while this isn’t new to Beam, either in his work with The Last Ten Seconds of Life or his work in Promise Breaker, The Dead Ones is the strongest overall example of his work the listener has heard to date. What’s more is that Beam is joined by a monstrous array of guests throughout the project, whether its early Fit for an Autopsy’s Nate Johnson on “Rat Pack,” Simonich’s feature on “Make it to Heaven,” Distant’s Alan Grjna on “Dollar to a Dime” or the one and only Storm Strope on “XXXXXXXXXX”—all excellent and careful choices that complement Beam, give a little bit of fan service and elevate their respective tracks within one fell swoop.
A pet peeve of mine is constantly referencing prior works or other bands in the process of describing an album—but given The Last Ten Seconds of Life’s growth over time or the nature of The Dead Ones, it’s a little hard not to do that. With that said, irrespective of their prior records—both the good and the not as good—The Dead Ones stands as an immense and strong entry to their robust discography, carrying on and focusing the strongest elements of their early and recent work while continuing to push their sound and dynamic in new and unexpected ways. Fans of the band will find exactly what they want out of them, and those new to the band—or those who had been estranged throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s—will find something welcoming (and even familiar) to find themselves lost in.
8.5/10
For Fans Of: Extortionist, Korn, 2X4, Bodysnatcher, Distant
By: Connor Welsh