If you're anything like us then you've been more than a little obsessed with Mike Patton's quarantine alter ego The Lonely Rager even since the masked man of mystery popped up in May to sing "Speak Spanish or Die" — a brilliant reworking of Stormtroopers of Death's satirical crossover classic "Speak English or Die" — with S.O.D. members Scott Ian, bassist Dan Lilker and drummer Charlie Benante. Today (June 12th) The Lonely Rager reared his head once again, this time to join Patton's bandmates in Dead Cross — namely, Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Misfits), Justin Pearson (the Locust, Retox) and Michael Crain (Retox, Festival of Dead Deer) — for a ferocious take on Black Flag's hardcore anthem "Rise Above."
Dead Cross recorded the cover "in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and staunchly opposing police brutality and systemic racism," they said in a joint statement. "As such, the track opens with a recording of a Los Angeles resident voicing his displeasure with the LAPD during a public comment period from a regularly scheduled LA police commission meeting." It arrives paired with a lockdown-filmed video of the band members tearing through the song in their respective quarantine bunkers, intercut with violent footage from the ongoing BLM protests. Watch and listen above.
