Beating a Dead Horse (album)

Last updated
Beating a Dead Horse
BeatingaDeadHorse.png
Studio album by
Released
  • May 26, 2015 (2015-05-26)
  • December 4, 2015 (2015-12-04) (reissue)
Genre Parody, comedy rock, comedy punk
Amidst the Grave's Demons: metalcore, post-hardcore
Sunrise Skater Kids: pop punk
Chewed Up: melodic hardcore, hardcore punk
Vermicide Violence: deathcore
Canadian Softball: emo, math rock, indie rock
Rectangles: progressive metal, djent
$wagCh0de: crunkcore
Length54:32
Label Independent
Producer
Jarrod Alonge chronology
Beating a Dead Horse
(00000003)
Friendville
(2016)
Deluxe Reissue Cover
BADH Deluxe Ultra-Limited Exclusive Undead Edition.jpg
"BADH: Deluxe Ultra-Limited Exclusive Undead Edition"

Beating a Dead Horse is primarily a comedy album, with each song parodying common themes found in various alternative genres. The album's songs are "performed" by seven different fictitious bands: "Amidst the Grave's Demons", "Sunrise Skater Kids", "Chewed Up", "Vermicide Violence", "Canadian Softball", "Rectangles", and "$wagCh0de", with the bands' appearances and personalities reflecting stereotypes found within their particular genres.

Tracks 1–7

The album's first track, "The Swimmer" by Amidst the Grave's Demons mimics the style of metalcore band Memphis May Fire, with the song's title and music video being a parody of "The Sinner". The song's lyrics parody ocean and drowning-related imagery used by metalcore bands such as The Amity Affliction. The song concludes with a southern metal section, referencing the style Memphis May Fire had on their debut album, Sleepwalking. A music video for "The Swimmer" was released on May 27.

"Love Me Back" by Sunrise Skater Kids is an upbeat pop punk song that parodies the obsessive, love-centered lyrics found within many songs of this style.

"Unbreakable" by Chewed Up is a melodic hardcore song that parodies The Ghost Inside, parodying the band's emotional and sometimes melodramatic lyrics. A music video for the track was released on September 25, featuring fan-submitted performance clips.

"Save My Life" by Amidst the Grave's Demons mimics the uplifting, hopeful lyrics of bands such as We Came as Romans and The Color Morale (dubbed "hopecore" in many online communities), but does so with a narcissistic tone. A music video for "Save My Life" was released on August 11, and parodied the video for "Suicide;Stigma" by The Color Morale. It was filmed at Warped Tour 2015 and featured guest appearances by multiple bands, including We Came as Romans, August Burns Red, Blessthefall, and PVRIS.

"Inconceivable Somatic Defecation" by Vermicide Violence (the band's name being a play on deathcore band Suicide Silence) parodies the violent and grotesque lyrics of deathcore and technical death metal bands such as Infant Annihilator and Cattle Decapitation. A music video for the song was released on vocalist Jared Dines' channel (as Alonge jokingly stated he didn't want to associate with the track) on August 26, 2015, acting as a parody of the music video for "Forced Gender Reassignment" by Cattle Decapitation. [ citation needed ]

The sixth track, "Take it Easycore" by Sunrise Skater Kids, as its title suggests, is a parody of easycore, a style that combines pop punk with the breakdowns and screaming typically found in metalcore. The song's friendship-oriented lyrics reference "In Friends We Trust" by French band Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!.

"Bite the Curb" by Chewed Up is a fast-paced hardcore punk song that satirizes bands that vainly attempt to have threatening and intimidating lyrics.

Tracks 8–15

"Misogyneric" by Amidst the Grave's Demons mimics themes of betrayal found in many metalcore songs, and condescends to them by incorporating various internet memes into the lyrics. The song features an exaggerated, lengthy buildup to a breakdown, which is performed by Mattie Montgomery of For Today.

"Pop Punk Pizza Party" by Sunrise Skater Kids embodies many well-known stereotypes and characteristics surrounding pop punk subcultures, such as the love of pizza, glorification of friendship, and desires to leave home and tour. A demo version of the song was released in mid-2014, and it was professionally re-recorded for the album.

The tenth track "The Distance Between You and Me is Longer Than the Title of This Song" by Canadian Softball is a parody of Midwestern emo bands in the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as American Football. The song's lyrics mock the melancholy, lovesick lyrics of many bands of this style, and the song's title is a parody of the lengthy titles used by many emo bands. The end of the song also quotes several nonsensical tweets made by actor Jaden Smith that received viral attention online. This track in particular uses the style of midwest emo band Tiny Moving Parts.

"I'm So Scene 2.0" by Amidst the Grave's Demons is a parody of "scene" electronicore bands such as Attack Attack! and Abandon All Ships, and features frequent breakdowns, heavy use of synthesizers, and autotuned clean vocals. "I'm So Scene" was officially the first song written that would be featured on the album; a demo version was released in late 2013. The re-recorded version of the song had an additional bridge and electronic interlude.

"Cosmic Metaphysical Verisimilitude" by Rectangles is a parody of djent-influenced bands, featuring unusual time signatures, unconventional song structure (with no discernible choruses or verses) [18] off-beat guitar riffs, and lyrics consisting of complex, yet nonsensical mathematical and scientific terminology.

"2 Freaky 4 da Club" by $wagCh0de satirizes the critically panned crunkcore group Brokencyde, with lyrics that contrast the themes typically found in bands of this style (for example, the lyrics promote drinking responsibly and abstaining from smoking).

"Hey Jarrod, What's That Song Again?" by Amidst the Grave's Demons is a medley consisting of snippets of twenty-two different metalcore and post-hardcore songs, with lyrics focusing on plagiarism. Its name is a reference to the song "Hey John, What's Your Name Again?" by The Devil Wears Prada.

The final track "Goodbye Baltimore (The Flute Song)" by Sunrise Skater Kids is a pop punk-influenced acoustic rock song that describes the singer's desire to leave his band and focus on playing the flute. Alonge performs three crude "flute" solos throughout the track, which are actually performed on a recorder despite the song's title and lyrics. The album concludes with an onomatopoeic "blegh", a vocal phrase used by some metalcore bands, which is a running joke throughout the album.

Tracks 16–21

"Pray for Progress" by Vermicide Violence directly parodies Bring Me the Horizon, who shifted away from their well-known metalcore sound on their 2015 album That's the Spirit . Consequently, the song exhibits a post-hardcore and alternative rock sound rather than the deathcore sound heard on Vermicide Violence's previous material, although a metalcore verse is heard at the end of the track. The song's lyrics focus on the decision to shift genres and sarcastically ridicules those who criticize the band for doing so. The song's title is a parody of "Pray for Plagues" from Bring Me the Horizon's debut album Count Your Blessings , and the band's first official single.

"Brevé Canzoné" by Canadian Softball is no longer than 15 seconds long (although in its video, the song is misleadingly followed by over three minutes of silence). The song's title appropriately translates to "Short Song" and references American hardcore act Touche Amore.

"Waifu" by Rectangles was originally written as a demo song, with lyrics ridiculing obsessive fans of Japanese culture.

"First World Tragedy" by Sunrise Skater Kids stylistically parodies The Story So Far. The song's lyrics make use of the well-known "first world problem" meme, with the vocalist incessantly complaining about minor problems in his life. The end of the song features up to five vocal tracks played over one another, a technique used in some pop punk songs. The song was released as the album's fifth and final single, with an accompanying music video.

"2 Warped 4 da Remix" by $wagCh0de is a short remix of "2 Freaky 4 da Club" with added metalcore-influenced instrumentation.

"Suck my 401k" by Amidst the Grave's Demons parodies Attila, making frequent use the high-speed screaming technique used in many of the band's songs. The lyrics promote financial competence, referencing Attila vocalist Chris Fronzak's aptitude in the field. The title is a parody of the lyric "suck my fuck", used in the Attila track "About that Life".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jarrod Alonge, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)PerformerLength
1."The Swimmer" Amidst the Grave's Demons3:52
2."Love Me Back" (featuring Cody Carson of Set It Off) Sunrise Skater Kids3:29
3."Unbreakable" Chewed Up4:26
4."Save My Life" Amidst the Grave's Demons4:07
5."Inconceivable Somatic Defecation" (featuring Jared Dines) Vermicide Violence3:40
6."Take It Easycore" Sunrise Skater Kids3:27
7."Bite the Curb"Alonge, Joseph MitraChewed Up2:09
8."Misogyneric" (featuring Mattie Montgomery, formerly of For Today) Amidst the Grave's Demons3:50
9."Pop Punk Pizza Party" (featuring Dave Days) Sunrise Skater Kids4:34
10."The Distance Between You and Me Is Longer Than the Title of This Song"Alonge, Jamie PhillipsCanadian Softball3:46
11."I'm So Scene 2.0" (featuring Johnny Franck, formerly of Attack Attack!) Amidst the Grave's Demons4:42
12."Cosmic Metaphysical Verisimilitude" (featuring Mike Semesky, formerly of Intervals)Alonge, Drewsif StalinRectangles5:26
13."2 Freaky 4 da Club" $wagCh0de3:33
14."Hey Jarrod, What's That Song Again?" Amidst the Grave's Demons4:15
15."Goodbye Baltimore (The Flute Song)" Sunrise Skater Kids3:06
Total length:54:32
Deluxe reissue
No.TitleWriter(s)PerformerLength
16."Pray for Progress"Alonge, Johnny FranckVermicide Violence4:07
17."Brevé Canzoné" ("Brief Song") Canadian Softball0:15
18."Waifu" Rectangles1:53
19."First World Tragedy" Sunrise Skater Kids5:00
20."2 Warped 4 da Remix" $wagCh0de1:16
21."Suck my 401k" (featuring Chris Linck of Attila) Amidst the Grave's Demons3:38
Total length:70:41

Additional information

The following songs are included in the medley "Hey Jarrod, What's That Song Again?", albeit with different lyrics:

Personnel

Additional personnel

Chart performance

Chart (2015)Peak
position
US Billboard Top Comedy Albums [19] [20] 1
US Billboard Top Heatseekers 18

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