Hailing from deep within the heart of Dallas, Texas, Empty Shell released their latest album, "Inner City Hustle", in 2021 to a restless city struggling under lockdowns. The message was one we all felt in our bones, and the album was well received in light of the situation. The fast-paced, aggressive drums, fat bass lines, angry riffs, and guttural vocals hit the right spot for the locked-down Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metal scene, and when shows were back on again, this was one band we all wanted to see live!
This album, like their others, is pure Texas Death Metal (TXDM) and focuses on the ever-present illicit drug trade in Dallas' inner city, along with the urban lifestyle that comes with it, the drugs themselves, effects on society, brutal business models, and the inherent danger therein. This band is highly effective at relaying excitement as well as violence, and live shows are always a blast for attending metalheads.
Their latest album offers not only anger and aggression but also has a bit of comedic relief with several drops and samples of news broadcasts, candid lines, and pop culture references. If you are a native Texan or have spent any amount of time here, the samples and drops get more relevant with age, like a fine wine.
Setting the tone from the start with "The Mule," the album opens with haunting words from a Texas DEA agent describing an escalation of illicit substances being trafficked into the state. Songs like "Back Door Crack Whore" feel grimy and, dare I say, intentionally offensive! All in good fun, of course.
But the best laugh comes from their title track, "Inner City Hustle," with a deep-cut drop of Texas's dad, Hank Hill, from the best-known and most accurate Texas docu-series: King of the Hill. We love that fucking show here. This song is thick and relentless, like the daily Dallas grind. This city is wild, wealthy, and wicked as hell, and Empty Shell pays tribute to one of the best cities in the nation, regardless of politics or whatever the fuck divides people lately.
This band is Dallas in concentrated form; they represent us well in every regard. Tyler, the vocalist, is a kind and friendly man in conversation, starkly opposing his intimidating stage presence. Isaak and Chad are some of the chillest men in Texas metal, yet somehow crank out some of the meanest riffs and funkiest bass lines, which gives Empty Shell their unique style. Dallas metalheads cannot resist a good thrashing, and Tyler, Isaak, and the boys never fail to deliver the metal therapy we demand. And now I feel like eating some Whataburger.
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