In 2016, after police killings of innocent Black Americans led to global outcry, Boiler Room arranged a panel discussion on “Black Britishness and racism through the lens of music/the arts.” Dean Blunt, going by the pseudonym Glenn Danzig, reluctantly participated. “Yeah, Black Lives Matter,” he said, chuckling sarcastically. When an audience member asked how Black people can unite and organize against police brutality, Blunt shot down the claim that protest is a solution: “I don’t think marching listening to Kendrick Lamar on Oxford Street is really going to solve it…Understanding what Blackness is and the fear of Blackness and why these people are being shot is primary.” Blunt was referring to Lamar’s song “Alright,” which became an unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement. He caught flak from both the audience and the panel for his critique, but a deeper inquiry into the state of Blackness can be heard in his lyricism.

On “DASH SNOW,” a highlight from his new album Black Metal 2, Blunt questions Lamar’s triumphalism. “Baby, don’t let me down,” he pleads over a whining guitar slide, sounding as if he’s already been let down time and time again. Though it can be read as a moan of romantic heartbreak, Blunt’s agony also encompasses the struggles faced by Black people, which have only become more pronounced in the five years since his comments on BLM. When Blunt sings, “It’s gonna be alright,” in a defeated tone, it feels like an Afropessimist retort to Lamar; it’s as if he’s asking, “Are we?” In contrast to Lamar’s optimistic chant of Black redemption, Blunt’s whimpering sounds like a man trying to convince himself of a lie that he can barely voice. He knows that a world that fears Blackness cannot be “alright.”