Deathline International are an American

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

group based in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, known for experimenting with multiple electronic music styles. The original nucleus of the band comprised composers Shawn Brice (Wiz Art, Spawn) and Christian Petke (Count Zero). The band released five studio albums on

COP International COP International, also shortened to ''COP Int'l.'', is a music label based in Oakland, California. Initially, the label was founded in 1991 by Christian Petke (a.k.a. Count Zero of Deathline Int'l.) in Frankfurt, Germany. A few months later, ...

: '' Reality Check'' (1993), '' Zarathoustra'' (1995), '' Arashi Syndrom'' (1997), '' Cybrid'' (2001), ''Pax Americana'' (2022).

History

Deathline International was formed in 1991 out of

, by composers Shawn Brice and Christian Petke. The band made their debut with 1993's '' Reality Check'', released by

. The album was a fusion of orchestral samples with electro and heavy metal. The EP '' Venus Mind Trap'' was released in April 1995 and produced with the musical input of John Carson of Grotus, Rey Osburn of

Tinfed Tinfed was an American alternative rock group started in Sacramento, California. The final line-up consisted of vocalist and instrumentalist Rey Osburn, guitarist Eric Stenman, drummer Matt McCord, and bassist Rick Verrett. They released three ...

, Suzanne Santos of Hydro Chi Non and Evan Sornstein of

Battery Battery or batterie most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source * Battery indicator, a device whic ...

. They followed that release in November with the band's second album '' Zarathoustra''. Their second album was produced with the collaborative efforts of most of the COP Intl. roaster. The band provided a cover of Soft Cell's "

Tainted Love "Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. In 1981, the song attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synth-pop du ...

", originally written for and performed by

Gloria Jones Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song "Tainted Love" and has wo ...

, to COP Intl.'s '' Chaos Compilation'' in 1994. The band's third album '' Arashi Syndrom'' and second EP ''

Wild Boys ''Wild Boys'' is an Australian television period drama series that began airing on the Seven Network on 4 September 2011. It is produced by Julie McGauran and Sarah Smith from Southern Star and John Holmes. The series is set in and around the ...

'' were released in 1997, with the former peaking at number twenty-one on CMJ's Dance Top 25. The album was commended for its synthesis of their brand of coldwave industrial music with new wave while showcasing the band's expanded compositional diversity. Founding member Shawn Brice departed from the band to pursue his own musical interests after deciding that ''Arashi Syndrome'' would be his final album writing credit with Deathline International. Keyboardist G.W. Childs joined the band, and in 2001 the band released their fourth album '' Cybrid''. The band began releasing new material again on COP Intl. with the EP '' Eisbär'' in 2016. The following years saw the release of several more EPs, including '' Spin Zone'', '' Breaking'' and '' Spin Zone II''. In 2020 the band covered

The Vibrators The Vibrators were a British punk rock band whose greatest success was in 1977–1978 with the albums ''Pure Mania'' and ''V2 (album), V2''. Their first Epic Records single "Baby Baby (The Vibrators song), Baby Baby" is considered a punk cla ...

" Troops of Tomorrow", which they originally covered for 1997's ''Arashi Syndrom'', with

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Initially consisting of lead guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fl ...

frontman

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Init ...

and released it as a single on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

Discography

Studio albums * '' Reality Check'' (1993, COP Intl.) * '' Zarathoustra'' (1995, COP Intl.) * '' Arashi Syndrom'' (1997, COP Intl.) * '' Cybrid'' (2001, COP Intl.) * ''Pax Americana'' (2022, COP Intl.) Extended plays * '' Venus Mind Trap'' (1995, COP Intl.) * ''

'' (1997, COP Intl.) * '' Eisbär'' (2016, COP Intl.) * '' Spin Zone'' (2018, COP Intl.) * '' Breaking'' (2019, Distortion/COP Intl.) * '' Spin Zone II'' (2020, Distortion) * ''Parasite'' (2021, COP Intl.) - #18 German Alternative Charts (DAC)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in California American electro-industrial music groups American industrial rock musical groups COP International artists