Rex, known under the moniker death_on_impact and featured on IDIOTEQ earlier this year, has been building his own world within the emotive post-hardcore space since age 11. Self-taught in instrumentation and production, his music has long served as a coping mechanism and mode of expression. With Oh Father, Why Here?, his newest and most intricate release to date, he finally puts into words what he’s been circling for years.
“This record covers so much but it truly boils down to one thing: anger with god and christianity,” Rex explains. “Shining light on things like: SA, suicide, drug abuse, people abusing their power while still deeming themselves christian, mental illness, politics, and how all of it comes back to asking god ‘why?’”
The album is a sharp DIY document of this tension—recorded entirely in his childhood bedroom, using a broken microphone that shocked him during takes. “Some of the screams were genuine pain,” he says.
Influences include Circa Survive, As Cities Burn, Fightstar, Underoath, Hail The Sun, The Hotelier, and others that hover between post-hardcore, ambient rock, and lyrical breakdown. Rex also cites Soundgarden, Pantera, and Bach among his inspirations, nodding to the album’s textured, sometimes chaotic layering.
At its core, Oh Father, Why Here? is shaped by personal trauma and a deep questioning of religious narratives.
“Through out the album, you can clearly hear a vinyl being played with a low pitched/distorted voice. This is from a set of small vinyls passed down to me that are recordings of my late grandfather’s preachings and choirs when he owned a church. It matters a lot to the overall theme as the pressure at a young age to carry the religion that your family aligns with is a hard thing to experience.”
The themes span substance abuse, SA, suicide, toxic love, and spiritual abandonment.
It’s an album that documents a search for meaning in the ruins of faith, layered with ambient guitar textures, broken audio, and raw emotional deliveries. “This album has been my biggest effort yet,” Rex writes. “I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.”
Rex assembled the record alone but didn’t isolate entirely. His father added ambient guitars to the album’s final outro. His brother, who makes music as Waterspout, contributed drum parts captured in different years and layered into the first track. He also collaborated with two artists: my point of you and AINOR. One older song, “One!Two!Three!Four!End!”, reappears here in sampled form—already a sample of friends counting in art school.
Every element of the record feels intentional.
“I watched the documentary Jesus Camp about 60 times, it played in the background while making each song,” Rex shares. That obsessive backdrop bleeds into the songs’ haunted tone.
Despite the weight, the process was about control—about making something fully on his own terms. “All of my music is entirely done DIY in my bedroom I’ve grown up in,” he says. “I taught myself from the beginning all the instruments and production I know and have used music to say the words I could never say to anyone’s face.”
Looking ahead, Rex hints at a shift.
“After this record, I may step away from my own music for a while,” he admits. There’s a plan for a b-sides EP, and perhaps a return to collaboration—helping others, joining new projects, and playing live.
Live shows are coming soon, starting around the Greenville area. “We are working on building a setlist and playing around the Greenville area,” he says. The east coast might follow. “Hopefully helping other artists, maybe joining some other bands/projects, and playing live shows if possible.”
He remains grounded in his local scene. “While the Greenville music scene isn’t the biggest in the world, home will always be home and the music and people are amazing,” he says. “The local scene has been such an important part of my life… it’s important to focus on all the good!”
“I believe in love, being in love, and forgiveness,” Rex says. Oh Father, Why Here? is a scream from that place of belief—wounded, questioning, and still searching.
Track by track rundown
The track-by-track commentary offers a detailed insight into the emotional and conceptual architecture of the album.
The Intro to an Ethical Project: This track starts off strong with lyrics that somewhat summarize the albums concept. The song starts with lyrics that reflect searching for god in times of need but being consistently let down, and ends with a concept/story that is repeated in the album about a man contemplating committing suicide in hopes a sign from god will stop him.
I Love You, Judas: This song is blunt with its meaning, the lyric “How can you be mad at something that you don’t believe in?” says it all. A struggle of mine for a long time has been bipolar disorder, because of this, I go through phases of believing in something bigger like a god, and then going through phases of believing in nothing.
In My Eyes, See Your Own Fear: This song is about some “christian” men of power using their position to SA and take advantage of others. In this song I express how desperately I hope that if god is real, these people get what they deserve.
Oh No! I’ve Broke The Protocol: This song covers a plethora of the albums themes, such as: Men abusing their power, mental illness/religious delusion, and people forcing their own biased and hateful beliefs and using the bible as their shield.
An Early Night: This song is about watching someone fall victim to their mental illness, something I’ve seen so much in my family and friends. Suicide, abusing drugs, psychosis, etc.
Those Who Mourn, Will Be Saved: This song is about grief and how I’ve wanted to believe in god in those times of mourning. There are also parts in the song that talk about the news and how most of whats being said is so untruthful and is making us all hate each other.
Never pt. II: This song is about toxic relationships. I’ve been in relationships that have made me question reality and the meaning of life itself. My desperate search for love in people and life and coming short a lot of the time.
Possibly Texas: This song was based on a concept/story I wrote about a year ago about an unfaithful-married-businessman sleeping with a prostitute, which I thought tied into men abusing their power nicely.
I Have No Leads: This song is about the search for god and trying to believe as a young kid. I grew up in the south with some strongly christian family members. When I was about 7 I began to test the idea of christianity and I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for it.
The Arrow Pointing West: In a lot of my music, “West” is a metaphor for a non religious place/concept of the afterlife. This song ties into the concept of the title track about the man attempting suicide while praying to be stopped by god, repeating the lyrics from the intro track.
A Prophet Meets The Ceiling: This song is about accepting the lack of a god, and realizing the thing you’ve founded life on was a lie the whole time.
