The message in Half–Life isn’t subtle. DROSERA’s latest single, dropping today alongside a stark, heavy video, digs deep into the ever-present dread of our world’s darkest legacy: nuclear fallout.
The track serves as both a warning and an announcement, marking the arrival of Matthew Zagorski as the latest official member. Zagorski, whose credits include Machinist! and Dying Whale, is no stranger to the band—he’s been on the road with them, behind the camera, and now, officially in the lineup.
This sonic avalanche comes ahead of the Empire EP, recorded with John Howard at War House Recordings in Gainesville.
It’s a brutal, unflinching look at the things that keep us up at night—both on a personal and societal scale.
The heavy, suffocating energy of Half-Life encapsulates the anxiety and tension that comes with living in a world constantly on the brink of collapse.
The band asks: how do we leave a warning for people a thousand years from now about the dangers of nuclear waste? It’s a question that haunts the track, much like the weighty, relentless riffs and venomous vocals that circle the listener, sinking into their mind like a snake tightening its grip.
Yet, despite the track’s crushing heaviness, Half-Life is more than just a doom-filled anthem. It’s the beginning of something larger.
The Empire EP, teased in our previous feature HERE and out January 1st, pulls back the curtain on the ways we treat each other.
From the grifters distorting media to the hate festering in familiar places, these songs expose how close to home these issues hit.
But the band doesn’t just leave listeners in the dark. “A Place For Friends” offers a glimmer of hope, a tribute to the hardcore scene that gave them a voice and the sense of community they still fight for. It’s a love letter to the shows that shaped them and a call to preserve this underground ecosystem for the next generation of kids screaming into the void.
These are songs for those willing to push forward regardless, because, as the band puts it: “No man is an island. Nobody is immune to propaganda. Nothing is guaranteed. Memento mori. Don’t let the light go out.”
Half-Life is a glimpse into the Empire, and it’s not all dystopia. There’s a recognition of what has been lost and what can still be saved. It’s loud, it’s dark, but if you listen closely, there’s still a glimmer of hope beneath the bleak metallized sounds of heavy hardcore.
