The name Death Grips is either one you despise, adore, or just don’t know. Whether it comes back to their abstract music or the community consisting mostly of dweebs, there is lots to grasp with Death Grips.
Death Grips is a music trio consisting of vocalist Stefan Burnett Aka Mc Ride , drummer Zach Hill, and Engineer and Synthesizer Andy Morin. The leading creative of the band, Zach Hill started playing drums at 15 due to voices in his head instructing him to, perfectly setting the tone for what the band would eventually become.
Death Grips was formed in 2010 originating from Sacramento, California. They released their first EP, Ex-military on April 25, 2011, causing currents in the underground with its distinct and aggressive sound. From infectious hooks to a monologue from Charles Manson at the beginning of the song “Beware,” people were instantly hooked. Layers of sound over Mc Ride’s violent delivery was a far cry from normal pushing complexity and deficiency with their music.
The following year, the band broke through with their album The Money Store, being considered a masterpiece of modern music by many critics, famously getting the elusive 10 from Anthony Fantano, a fan-favorite critic on YouTube. With instrumentals pulling from multiple genres, the sound of Death Grips is a hard one to pinpoint. From industrial hip-hop to electronic to punk the genres of Death Grips seem limitless.
The band’s second studio album No Love Deep Web was entangled with problems from the start. Having trouble releasing the album under their label Epic Records, they leaked it themselves, despite the unordinary release of the album it was again held in high regard by music critics. The raw stripped-down sound of the album was a combination of all the prior releases, using small parts from each album to make the best of all worlds.
Since the release of The Money Store, DG has dropped 7 official albums, building a strong fanbase. Celebrities like Jenna Ortega, Eric Andre, Björk, Edgar Wright, Tyler, the Creator, and Robert Pattinson are all public fans of the band. Their unique sound and aesthetic have captivated thousands and created a cult-like community idolizing the behaviors of the band.
Understanding Death Grips is the hardest part of recognizing them. Seeing what makes them attractive and so addicting is hard at first . The music is very complex with layers of sound pinpointing the parts you enjoy and slowly building from there can help with the experience. The shroud of mystery surrounding them adds to the aesthetic and appeal of the band. Their actions are animalistic and anti-authority, Zach Hill is known to play the drums till his hands are raw and bleeding at some points playing till his hands literally snap, breaking fingers and bruising bone. Mc Rides lyrics are also a main contributing factor to the popularity behind DG. Being convoluted, aggressive, and genius his word schemes and flows are something you only get from Death Grips. “Devour the hand, spit out the leash.”
The Death Grips community has been known for their passionate yet unhinged behaviors during concerts. Etiquette is thrown out the window once the minimalist stage is set and Mc Ride comes to start the show. From small nuisances like throwing glow sticks and water bottles at the band until they stormed off stage to near crimes throwing their own urine around during mosh pits. The fanbase for DG is a very interesting and mostly chronically online group of people.
Now almost 15 years since the band had started, the drive and dedication that the members had before has slowly gone away. A leaked text between Andy Morin and a fan shows Andy saying “Yeah it’s over, Stefan doesn’t want to do anymore. But truthfully none of us can ever predict what will happen with the group.” Even though they have not officially announced their departure Stefan (Mc Ride) turned 46 this year making the lack of motivation reasonable. His stage presence requires lots of energy and pushing 50 years old he just doesn’t have what he used to have. In 2014, the band announced their disbandment, coming back only a year later by surprise dropping their album Fashion Week. They have hinted at and announced their retirement many times taking it back later but this time the hopes for a reunion seem slim. As Andy said himself “Truthfully none of us can ever predict what will happen with the group.” The fate of Death grips still hangs up in the air.
What now that Death Grips is rumored to be over? Similar artists to Death Grips are very rare but do exist, below I have listed below a few artists that have similar aesthetics and sound. Lip Critic is a band formed in 2019 with the most familiar sound to Death Grips. They released an album in 2024 called Hex Dealer with the same catchy hooks and hardcore punk leads. Being a fairly new band I believe that Lip Critic will have a very successful career not just following the sounds of Death Grips but paving their own path. Danny Brown who is a classic Detroit rapper has a similar aesthetic to Death Grips, in his older music the grimy anger comes through in songs like Bruiser Brigade and Die Like A Rockstar. He has mentioned Death Grips previously in interviews and has tweets praising their work. Clipping is mentioned a lot when discussing Death Grips-like artists. The raw background noises in Looking Like Meat with the hard synths have the same dread that DG brings. They just released an album called Dead channel sky on March 14th mixing industrial hip hop with an interesting digital atmosphere. Death Grips’ future is very grim; a chance for a reunion or surprise album drop is slim to none.
