Nowhere Bound, the sixth full-length from Boston hardcore veterans Death Before Dishonor, arrives May 16 via Bridge Nine Records, marking their first release since 2019’s Unfinished Business.
The eleven-track album was recorded with longtime collaborator Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Hatebreed) between Rock Valley Studio in Easthampton and Planet-Z in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. The band—Bryan Harris (vocals), Ben Kelly (guitar), Justin Viera (guitar), Greg Chihoski (bass), and Ben Hilton (drums)—approach this record with both their core sound intact and new layers of reflection brought by time.
Drummer Ben Hilton describes Nowhere Bound as a document of the band’s mental state over the last six years: “There are familiar themes from past records, like loyalty & friendship, but we also take on entirely new topics for us, like describing what it’s like to maintain your principles as you get older.” According to him, much of the album is the result of years of unspoken thoughts finally getting put to paper: “Whether it’s a song about personal conflict, mental illness, or venting on the state of the world, these are thoughts that cloud our minds until we put pen to paper and address them.”
The record includes the recent single “Overruled” and the just-released “Pushed To The Edge,” a two-minute blast of frustration and energy. The title track reworks an older song from their True Til Death era—chosen because its sense of hopelessness still resonates today.
In a conversation with vocalist Bryan Harris, we talked about everything from early European tours—like a chaotic Warsaw show with Ramallah—to the current state of the Boston scene and what it takes to keep a hardcore band going for over two decades. “We just love hardcore, always have always will,” Harris says. “We will continue to go out there and play shows as long as we are having fun and love being a part of the hardcore scene.”
Read the full interview below, where Harris reflects on aging in hardcore, revisiting old tracks, working with Zeuss, and the new generation carrying the torch.
One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR is that Warsaw show almost 20 years ago. I filmed a few clips that night — absolute chaos, you and RAMALLAH just tore it up. Do you remember that one? That tour still stick with you or has it all blurred into one long ride?
Yea, I definitely remember that show! That show has always stuck out to us. Show was packed, wild, and one of the best shows we have played. I’m pretty sure there was someone there in a cardboard tank that said DBD on the side.
We had a long drive to that show, the promoter thought we were gonna be in a bus so didn’t book us a hotel. When he tried that day all hotels in the city were booked so we were locked in the venue and “slept” in the basement haha
Thinking back to those early European tours — what stood out the most? Was the scene over there what you pictured, or did it completely flip your expectations?
Europe for sure went above expectations on those first tours. When we went there on our first tour we didn’t really know what to expect. The internet wasn’t like it is now so we had no way to easily see videos of shows there etc.
That first tour was with Agnostic Front and was amazing so maybe we were a little spoiled at first but Europe has always been a great place for us to play and still is. I have always felt that the European hardcore scene has been very dedicated to the bands they are into. I guess “lifers” you would call em.
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You recently toured Europe with Madball and Speed and were also here last summer. How does touring here now compare to those early days? Are the crowds the same? Has the energy shifted?
That tour was amazing, all the bands on that tour are great bands so of course the crowds were big, even bigger than I expected. The energy was great, I would say just as good if not better than most tours we have done there.
I really feel that Europe has always been supportive of our band, they appreciate music, and are loyal fans. That has never changed. We went into that tour with high hopes and Europe once again came through!
Any new bands from Europe that caught your ear lately? Maybe something you heard last year that made you stop and really listen — even some underground names worth checking?
I’m into Thrive, Thin Ice, Listed, Slow Burn to name a few.
Back home in Boston — how’s the scene feel these days from your perspective? You’ve been around long enough to watch it shift. Is there still that same fire, or does it feel like a different kind of movement now?
Boston just like most cities goes through waves, the scene goes up and down at times. Right now it’s doing really well, it has been for a while. It feels just as good as it did years ago. Maybe even better, lots of bands, shows, places that do shows, and kids supporting the scene!
What’s the hardest part about keeping a hardcore band going this long without losing the rawness? Where do you pull that energy from now?
Some of the hardest things are just balancing being an adult and playing in the band. Especially as we get older. We also aren’t the type of band to not give it our all and we tend to take as many opportunities as possible. We still like hitting any and every place that we can.
Life is always tough, we take that and put it into our music, we will never lose the rawness with the day to day struggles we all face in life.
It’s been six years since Unfinished Business — what pushed you over the edge and made you say “yeah, it’s time for a new record”?
We have been playing out a lot since Unfinished Business came out (besides the few years during the pandemic) and things have been good for us. Ben Kelly came back into the band on guitar. He was in the band from 2006-2011. So with him back as well as the momentum we had been building it just felt like the right time to put out a new record.
There’s a line in your press notes about holding onto your principles as you get older — that hit deep. Was that a theme you went into this album wanting to explore, or did it just surface naturally?
It came naturally to us. We have always been a band that has stuck by our principles personally, and overall as a band. So it’s always something we apply to DBD without even trying to.
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When you’re writing now, does it still hit you in the gut like it did in the early days? Or does it come from a different place now — more reflection, less reaction?
I think it still comes from the same place, we may approach it a little differently since we aren’t new to it but it for sure comes from the gut.
We also may take our time a little bit more to make sure we are completely happy with the songs. Years ago aside from being younger and more inexperienced, it always felt like we had to release a record every 2 years to be a part of a “touring cycle”. So I feel like we used to be against the clock more and it was hard to fit writing in at times between all that touring.
Working with Zeuss again — what keeps that relationship strong? Do you two have that unspoken rhythm now or do you still bounce around new ideas in the studio?
We connect really well. He is very good at what he does but he also understands DBD very well. This is our 3rd time working with him and it gets better and easier every time. We build a tighter bond and it just clicks.
Ben mentioned this record came from thoughts clouding your heads for years — was any of that hard to actually say out loud in the songs?
Not really, having all those thoughts in your head, you just want to get it out.
We had moments of making sure we were expressing it right and tried to make sure we were telling it in a way that would impact others. So we would bounce these thoughts and ideas off each other.
You’ve always had those core themes — loyalty, respect, not backing down — but did anything on Nowhere Bound feel like new territory for you lyrically?
There are definitely those core themes in a lot of the lyrics, but also some newer things. Especially dealing with maintaining your principles as you get older. Ben Hilton contributed a lot of lyrics on this record so that alone will add new themes while still addressing the core ones from a different perspective.
The title Nowhere Bound — what does that mean to you now? Is it about feeling stuck, about direction, or just facing a world that’s off balance?
Well “Nowhere Bound” is actually an old song from our True Til Death album that we redid. Lyrically it was for sure about hopelessness, feeling like you can’t get ahead at times. This still applies to things nowadays, in all different facets of life. So it felt like it made sense to call the album that.
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The Boston release show looks stacked — MISSING LINK, SHATTERED REALM, STREET POWER — how important is it for you to keep building those kinds of lineups that feel like true community?
It’s very important, all the bands on that show are friends of ours, are bands we like, and feel as if they represent hardcore in a way that should be!
Are there any newer bands, whether from your city or the road, that remind you of that old-school hunger — like they really get what hardcore’s about?
So many bands that are great and represent that true hardcore ethos… I’ll just name a few from Boston.
Haywire, Risk, Street Power, Instigate, Opposition, Give Up Hope to name a few.
When you go back and listen to Friends Family Forever or Unfinished Business, do those records still feel alive when you play them live, or are they more like time capsules now?
They still resonate to me. They represent a time and a place but all the DBD records from Friends Family Forever onwards will always make me feel alive. Every now and again when I play one of the old records, there’s songs we don’t often play and it reminds me that we should bring it back into the setlist!
If you could talk to yourselves from 2000 — right when this all started — what’s something you’d want to say from where you’re standing today?
Hmm that’s a tough one, I don’t have many regrets bandwise. When I started my first band, I never expected to leave the east coast, let alone get over to Europe as well as most of the countries in the world. So I would tell myself that anything really is possible in hardcore if you don’t give up, work hard, stick with it, support it, and keep your core values. I truly believe that what you get out of hardcore all falls on what you put into hardcore.
Last one — after all these years, what keeps the drive alive to keep doing this? What’s the real reason you’re still picking up the mic and heading back out on the road in 2025?
We just love hardcore, always have always will. We still hit shows at home and support bands in all different levels of hardcore. So we will continue to go out there and play shows as long as we are having fun and love being a part of the hardcore scene.
Thank you so much guys. Appreciate your time. Feel free to share your final words and take care! All the best!
Thank you for the time as well!!! Hardcore Lives!!
