Introducing: Dollflesh

Brazilian newcomers Dollflesh are on a mission to reject labels and embrace creative chaos, fracture, disturb and bring rust to an age of polished music with a sound deeply rooted in metal and electronic music.

The masked São Paulo outfit began with vocalist Kephas meeting guitarist Teo and teaming up to mix heavy guitars, electronic beats, synthesisers and screams. They went through a few changes before completing the lineup with pulsive bass player Spynx and technically skilled drummer Fuccia to craft a sound that they describe as “raw, saturation and pulse.”

Further expanding on the Dollflesh sound, Kephas told us: “We don’t think Dollflesh fits into any classic genre of music. But fundamentally, it is heavy, raw, tense, sometimes groovy and fluctuates from organic to digital elements constantly. Expect simple yet powerful and creative guitar riffs and visceral vocals, while the bass brings the weight, and the drums punch the rhythm with strength and precision.”

Our first taste of this is Dollflesh’s debut single Zero, which was released last month. It opens up with lone drums joined by heavy stabbing guitars, then a bending guitar noise supports laid-back, slightly edgy vocals. Heavy guitars kick in as the vocals intensify with cries of “One, zero, God’s only two numbers” and chunky guitars feed back into an edgy verse and a second verse that extends with the intense vocals “Quark, zero, Hate, zero, Speed, zero, God’s only two numbers.” The pace drops with slightly menacing guitars under a creepy little synth sound that picks up pace as vocals increase in intensity, and suddenly drop out to bring the track to a close

On the track, Kephas said: “Zero is the resurrection of a digital deity, created in the past. The feeling is amazing as we see it getting spread like a digital infection. In less than 20 days, it has close to 3k views on Spotify (now nearly 7k) and (now over) 400 views on the YouTube video. Cheers to everyone who’s part of the sickness! If you haven’t listened yet, expect rage, atmosphere and a digital god malfunctioning in your ears.”

The Dollflesh sound, as the name suggests, draws inspiration from, in Kephas’ words: “A balance between plastic and flesh, horror movies, creepy dolls, human hypocrisy, corrupted society etc… are all part of the aesthetic of the band, and the music follows this disturbed environment. Each member of the band brings different influences into the sound, which is great in terms of seeking authenticity. So, influences go from classic heavy metal stuff to electronic groovy acts and everything in between.”

Dollflesh are the first Brazilian band we’ve interviewed for nearly four years, which is shocking. So we asked the band for their thoughts on their local scene. “It’s amazing how the music industry has changed,” Kephas told us. “We went from selling CDs one by one in small gigs to Instagram posts that can reach thousands of people on social media. On one hand, it is ‘easier’ to expose yourself, but at the same time, we find ourselves in a vast ocean of new great bands arising every day (with no particular trend driven by a classic record label). The main challenge now is how to connect to the public that will like your music; they are out there (and we will find you!).

“Brazil is a country where a guitar costs twice the price of the United States, and the average personal income is really low. However, the technology allows people to record at home, to gig through the web, etc. The same for the scene support blogs, online magazines, and radios… they are out there and playing a huge role.”

There’s plenty more to come from Dollflesh, who are due to release their second single White Noise on Saturday (12 July), and you can pre-save it here. The band will be busy “spreading the sickness” with new songs and videos, a merch store being forged and live gigs to be scheduled.

And Kephas added: “We just want to find people that feel the same way we do when listening to Dollflesh: a type of emotion that gets into your skin and makes you wanna scream and jump. So we can enjoy this madness together. Thanks a lot!”

You can follow Dollflesh on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify and YouTube.