The project that would become Dogmatic started almost exactly a year ago when the two founding members, Bobby Delaney (drums) and Bayly Branson (vocals), were on tour together with another band. They discussed a new straight edge project that came into being after Bayly returned from his first European tour with his other band, Contention, in which he plays guitar.
"After I got back from the Contention Europe tour, I wrote the demo in about an hour and we went to work immediately,” Bayly told me over the weekend when we caught up to chat about Dogmatic and the their new tape.
From those early days, with recordings centering around the collective writing powers of Bayly and Bobby (with some admitted assistance from his Contention bandmate Josh Howell, Bayly is quick to point out), they have spent the last year crafting a sound that will at once sound very familiar to anyone who looks back fondly on the likes of Left For Dead, Haymaker, Dead in the Dirt, and Chokehold.
When listeners queue up their new cassette, out now in two limited colors from Armageddon Records, they’ll be treated to a modern take on the same raw anger, downtuned and dirty guitar tone, and overall ass-beating sound that made all of the aforementioned bands so well loved.
Yet, unlike so many who have since attempted to cheaply carbon copy the style, Dogmatic does an incredible job of combining familiar elements into something refreshingly original, while actually having something worthwhile to say on top of it all.
Speaking about being the vocalist and goals for the project, Bayly had this to say: “Having the opportunity to front a band… is something I’ve never done until now. It’s challenging writing lyrics and being up front, but I’m having a lot of fun doing it right now. I also wanted to be the band that can hop on any bill because I think we can play with punk bands, metallic hardcore bands, grind bands, whatever we want because we wouldn’t be out of place at any show.”
READ MORE: Contention: Tampa Band Brings H8000 Sound on Laying Waste to the Kingdom of Oblivion EP
Since Dogmatic started playing shows, the band has already achieved Bayly’s second goal in spades. After coming to fruition with the fully formed lineup being filled out by John Connell (guitar), Ian Teichgraeber (bass), and Jared Jordan (guitar) joining in to make Dogmatic a road-ready mosh factory, anyone who has been lucky enough to catch one of their shows will know exactly the type of furious energy their live sets produce, regardless of who they share the stage with.
In terms of immediate plans for the band, Bayly states: “Our only thing planned at the moment is a January 2024 tour with Resentment… doing four dates starting in Jacksonville and ending in Alabama. Hoping we can hit the road hard this (next) year and start writing for future releases.”
To close this out, the new self-titled Dogmatic tape is a must-grab for anyone looking to round out their “Best Releases of 2023” lists just in the nick of time. Comprised of only four songs that play out over a rage-filled six minutes, the band proves with this release that they’re already a force to be reckoned with. I don’t think anyone who has already given it a listen will be surprised to see their name A lot more in the very near future.
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Pick up a copy of the Dogmatic demo on cassette via Armageddon Records.
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Tagged: contention, dogmatic
