SONG REVIEW: Dyer Lane - "Shagohod"

“Could Dyer Lane be the heaviest band in Sacramento?” 

by Jesse Smith

California has always been a hotspot for music and art, and that statement continues to be true today. If you want to talk about scenes thriving, Cali from North to South has pretty insane scenes. But within those scenes there has to be great up and coming bands, and that is exactly what is the case here. We are going to focus in on Sacramento where the scene is buzzing and there is a new band on the block that is going to take your breath away… or punch you in the face. Dyer Lane is a “new” act that has released a certified banger. From doing some detective work, Dyer Lane is a new band rebranded from a previous local band in the area, hence the “new”. Either way, when it comes to making hard hitting heavy bangers, this trio has it down to a science. 

“Shagohod” is the band's first release as Dyer Lane and they came out like they had something to prove. Turning up the energy from the beginning, the opening riff was different than what I was expecting but in a good way! The bounce the riff had definitely was aimed toward crowd involvement. This first verse the vocalist *POPS OFF* showing off his range and hitting everything from his highest and lowest you would almost think it’s a dual vocalist band. I personally am a sucker for lows and I can tell which era of vocalists this guy was inspired by. The opening was cool, it got me interested but the transition to the drop gave me the stank face (we all know what that is, don’t pretend like you don’t). As we move through the song it just keeps getting heavier and heavier with every transition. The highlight of this song for me is how talented this vocalist is. In 2024, after we had the deathcore revival with the vocalist showing their stuff on tiktok, you are going to have to really stand out as a vocalist, and he does. From growls to snarls, this song has it all front to back. There is even a guitar solo that matched the energy of the song. His tone was very familiar and I almost didn’t put my finger on it. There was a lesser-known band from somewhere in Europe that was my favorite deathcore band that had a similar tone and I was obsessed with it. A crisp, clean distortion with quick attack that stood out in the mix on the higher and lower notes, translation, a 10/10 tone. 

I’m not sure what prompted the band’s rebranding but they sure are going to be making a name for themselves with tracks like this. As I was doing my detective work, I saw some of the shows they opened as the previous band and they were not small shows. Suicide Silence, We Came As Romans, bands on those levels but that was back in 2019. The time off could have been the main reason to rebrand, being that that time had to have had a lot of reflecting. Coming from someone who has had a dreadful hiatus from music to going back to playing, that second time around comes with a new spirit and purpose. I now know these guys are talented and can write good songs, I now am excited to see what else they’ve got. An EP is coming, they already said it, so now I just wait anxiously.