Death Before Dishonor (DBD or DB4D for short) is an American hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. Their initial releases were on Spook City Records; the group signed with Bridge Nine Records in 2005 and have released 6 total albums.
Lead singer Bryan Harris is the only remaining original member
Death Before Dishonor was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 2000. The original lineup was made up of members from defunct local bands such Incision, Fuse, and League of Pain.[3] The initial lineup consisted of vocalist Bryan Harris, guitarist Erik Deitz bassist Frankie Puopolo and drummer Dan Loftus.[4]
In 2001, DBD self-released their four-song debut EP Wartime. The following year, the band signed to the independent record label Spook City and released their debut album True till Death.[5] In 2003, DBD released a split ten-song record, Taking It Back, with the North Carolina hardcore band Nourish the Flame supplying the first six tracks and DBD contributing the last four. In 2004, the band re-released True Till Death withnew cover art along with additional tracks from Taking It Back. In November 2004, DBD went on a short tour alongside Ringworm.[6]
In 2005 the band caught their first break when they signed with Bridge 9 Records and released their label debut Friends Family Forever.[7] In May the band went on a U.S. tour in support of the album alongside Blacklisted.[8] DBD kept up this newley gained momentum by extensively touring throughout the rest of the year with hollow hardcore bands like Full Blown Chaos, Champion, Terror, and Agnostic Front.[3] 2005 also seen the bands first lineup change with guitarist Erik Deitz leaving, being replaced by Dave X. Ben "B-Roll" Kelly also joined the group as an additional guitarist. In 2006 the band continued touring heavily including a Summer U.S. tour with Terror in total the touring lasted for nearly two straight years.[9][10]
In early 2007 DBD teamed by with well big name hardcore acts Sick of it All and Madball for a U.S. tour.[11] In May of that same year the band released their third studio album Count Me In which was produced by Jim Siegel. The album received positive reviews,[12] Cory of Lambgoat stated “this album is definitely worth any hardcore fan's time. It's a well-written slab of beatdown hardcore with a bit more to it than most of its competition.”[13] The albums single “Break Through It All” also received significant play time on MTV's Headbangers ball helping raises the group's notoriety even more.[3] By 2008 DBD were averaging 250 live performances a year, and embarked on an international tour in 2008, headlining in Australia, Europe, Mexico, and Canada.[3] 2008 also seen more lineup changes with bass player Frankie Puopolo moving to guitar with Rob Deangelis taking over Dan Loftus left that same year and was replaced by Memphis Murphy.
In 2009 Death Before Dishonor released their fourth studio album Better Ways to Die, Greg Prato of AllMusic claimed “with the arrival of Better Ways to Die, Death Before Dishonor have certainly blossomed into one of the top modern hardcore outfits of the modern day.”[14] This album marked DBD first album release for the next 10 years. For the rest of the year DBD continued touring regularly alongside bands like Death Threat, The Mongoloids,and xThe Warx and Terror.[15]
In early 2010 the band did tours alongside Evergreen Terrace and Death Threat.[16][17] This year once again was met with multiple lineup changes as both Ben "B-Roll" Kelly and Rob Deangelis left the band.[18] Colin Reilly then joined the band as a new guitarist. In early 2011 the group went on a U.S. tour with Casey Jones and a European tour with Mongoloids.[19][20] In October 2011 DBD announced they were writing material for new album and would play some of the new songs on their early 2012 tour with Casey Jones however this new material never came to fruition.[21] Around this time drummer Josh Long left the band and was replaced by longtime member Ben Hilton.
Death Before Dishonor live with Full Force in 2014
In April 2012 the group went on a lengthy European tour with Terror and also took part in the Hell On Earth Tour alongside Walls of Jericho and others.[22][23] The group continued touring regularly throughout 2013, and in 2014 a new bass player Austin Sparkman joined the band. That seen the band go a co headlining tour alongside Ringworm and serve as support for Madball, Turnstile, Take Offense along with multiple festival appearances.[24][25][26]
In 2015 the band took part in that years New England Metal Fest,[27] along making other appearances. In 2016 DBD continued touring worldwide including a short Mexico tour with Piece By Piece the touring continued into 2017 and 2018.[28]
On May 20, 2019 DBD announced their first new album in 10 years Unfinished Business.[29] A single "Cowards Will Fall" was released on June 15, with the album being released a month later in June.[30][31] Hansel Lopez of Ghost Cult Magazine wrote Death Before Dishonor hasn't lost an inch of what got them to the dance.”[32] The group then went on tour in support of the album, bass player Austin Sparkman also left the band during the year and was replaced by Greg Chihoski.
DBD toured in early 2020 alongside Madball before taking the rest of the year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic then returned to touring in 2021. 2021 also saw which also seen the departure of founding member Frankie Puopolo and other longtime guitarist Colin Reilly, this resulted in the return of former guitarist Ben "B-Roll" Kelly.[33] In celebration of True Till Death 20th anniversary DBD re-released the record with new cover art. They also released a live recording of a 2006 performance at the CBGB called live at theCBGB 07/13/06.
In early 2023 the group went on a European tour with Hold My Own and Exit Strategy.[34] In July of that year they released a two-song Ep titled Master of None Justin Viera also joined the band as a second guitarist.[35] In March 2024 DBD supported Dropkick Murphys on their yearly St Patrick's Day celebration shows.[36] In May 2024 they went on a European tour along with making their first ever appearance in both Georgia and Kazakhstan.[37]
After touring with Madball in early 2025,[38] they also released a new single “Overruled.” DBD then announced on April 18, that a new studio album Nowhere Bound would be released on May 16. Another single "Pushed To The Edge" was also released. Drummer Ben Hilton described the album as a “collection of statements and observations that represent our mindset through the past 6 years since our last record.”[39] The band then went on tour in support of the album. In November they embarked on a European tour with Terror,[40] which also seen them play Friends Family Forever in its entirety for its 20th anniversary during a show at Revolution Calling.[41]
Artistry
Death Before Dishonor is a hardcore band that have become one of the more notable names in the Boston hardcore scene. AllMusic describes their style as a "back to basics" approach to American hardcore, fusing speed, metallic riffs, along with raspy yells and screams of vocalist Bryan Harris.[3] Throughout DBD early years their sound was more heavier, raw and unpolished.[42][43][44] However, from 2007s Count Me In and onwards the bands sound has become more polished with more of that metallic influence.[45][46]
Throughout the band's tenure their lyrics have focused on loyalty, respect and not backing down. As lead singer Bryan Harris and the band have gotten older he has also mentioned that some of the lyrics focus on “maintaining your principles as you get older.”[47]
Even our sound has kind of evolved. When we started the band we were a lot heavier. When we started we were in other local bands and we wanted to do more than just play in just our city or one state away, so back in 2001 Hatebreed was out, and there were just a lot of other heavy bands–we wanted to be a heavy band. We kind of matured over time and our influences changed too. If you asked me in 2000 what my influences were I’d be like: Merauder or Hatebreed, and they still are big influences but then we went on our first tour and played with Agnostic Front and I learned about more than just the band, they taught us how to tour. So that was another really big influence for us. As I said there are a bunch of legendary bands from Boston but a lot of them tend to break up, and at this point, I think the inspiration is still pushing hard for Boston, and what we feel hardcore is. I don’t have this is what hardcore is, it’s just ‘go out there, have fun, bring some energy.”
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