Nine albums in, Dying Fetus adheres to the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The kings of the brutal death-metal subgenre know of what they speak. Make Them Beg for Death is packed with all the breakdowns, mosh parts and guttural vocals fans have come to expect from the Baltimore-based band, but with elevated levels of catchiness. “You go with what you know,” guitarist and vocalist John Gallagher tells Apple Music. “If you wake up the next morning, and you’re humming the riff, that’s a good sign. Then you know you’re onto something.” On Make Them Beg for Death, all three members of Dying Fetus—Gallagher, bassist Sean Beasley and drummer Trey Williams—contributed song titles and themes, while Gallagher and Beasley co-wrote the often gory lyrics about revenge, war and murder. “We’re not trying to write fine literature here,” Gallagher says. “It’s more like entertainment, a little bit of fun. That’s a big part of what Dying Fetus is. People might think that’s an oxymoron in death metal—how can this ugly, gruesome kind of music bring joy? Well, it does.” Below, he comments on each song. “Enlighten Through Agony” “For me, this opener is a very strong song. It’s straightforward and catchy—I would say it’s one of the catchier songs on the album. It has a traditional structure and a nice breakdown at the end. We felt like it was a good song to lead the album with because we generally go with the more straightforward songs as openers. I feel like the vocals came out strong as well.” “Compulsion for Cruelty” “That one was our first single from the album. I wrote the music for all the songs, but on this one, I wrote the lyrics and the music. Frequently with Dying Fetus, we have retribution-style lyrics, which is a theme that just goes with our style. So, this song is about serving vengeance. The guy is making it his life’s purpose to get back at the person that has done him wrong. We’ve done this theme many times, which goes along with our idea of ‘If it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.’” “Feast of Ashes” “To me, it’s maybe the strongest song on the album. When that one was coming together, a bit of magic was happening. It’s a very cohesive song; the riffs really flow. I really like the way the guitar solo came out, too. I spent some time with that solo in the studio, just to make sure it was really banging. We did a video for it, which is gruesome and kind of brutal, but it makes an impact, and that’s what we were trying to achieve.” “Throw Them in the Van” “My girlfriend and I were watching one of the Slumber Party Massacre movies a couple of years ago. There’s that scene of the guy abducting someone in the van and drilling their fucking head out. My girlfriend recorded the audio from that scene on her phone: ‘Throw them in the van.’ When she played it back, I thought, ‘This would work. This is what people enjoy.’ Of course, it’s about a serial killer, which is not a very pleasant subject, but we made it fun.” “Unbridled Fury” “That one was released as a single, and it has just brutal, brutal lyrics. The song itself is a little bit different for us. We try to do everything catchy, but I think this song is a little catchier than other ones. To me, there’s a little bit of Cannibal Corpse in there. We also do some different guitar techniques, with more divebombs than usual and a guitar break—which is something we don’t do too often—with kind of a Middle Eastern vibe. Some of the drumbeats are a little different for us, too.” “When the Trend Ends” “I have to give credit for the title to Matthias, our sound guy at the time. When we were writing, we did a weekend run in our van, and he was talking about something and said, ‘When the trend ends.’ He even said, ‘John, that may be a good song title.’ I thought it was, so I wrote it down. I’m always on the lookout for strong titles like that. I’ve had guys at Jiffy Lube come up with strong titles just in passing. Lyrically, this has an old-school Metallica or Exodus approach, with the idea of killing posers.” “Undulating Carnage” “This one is about vehicular manslaughter. Sean wrote the lyrics, and I wrote the music. With this one, I tried to put a little more thrash and a little more melody into it. Towards the end, it has a melodic guitar solo, but it also has a nice beatdown part and stomp part. It’s one of my favourite songs on the record. It has a strong beginning and end. I can foresee this maybe being in our live set at some point.” “Raised in Victory/Razed in Defeat” “That was one of Trey’s titles. Obviously, it’s our war song about destruction and all that. We generally try to have a couple of war songs on our records. To me, this may have the catchiest riff on the album—the one that starts and ends the song.” “Hero's Grave” “This is Sean’s title, and it’s a good, old-fashioned Dying Fetus song—strong and catchy. I really like the breakdown on this one. I think the bass guitar came out really well, too.” “Subterfuge” “This is a bit of an experimental one. We generally try to put these towards the end of the album. I remember this is one of the last ones that was written for the album, and Sean came up with the lyrics. I believe it has a 5/8 time signature at the end, which we don’t do typically, but we tried it out here to give it a different feel. I know the guys from Suicide Silence have been listening to this one—they told us they really like it.”