Dead Shit Earth: Saskatoon’s Filthiest Export Isn’t Asking for Permission

by Scott Roos

photos by Tracy Creighton

By any reasonable prairie metric, Saskatoon has always had a bit of a split personality. On the surface: bridges, river walks, and just enough indie coffee to keep the vinyl collectors hydrated. Beneath it: a stubborn, grimy undercurrent of extreme music that refuses to stay politely underground. And lately, one of the loudest rumbles coming up through the floorboards belongs to DEAD SHIT EARTH.

Attack With Force previously unleashed the band’s debut full-length, Self Annihilation Prophecy (released July 13, 2024), and it still lands like a cinder block dropped through your kitchen sink which, fittingly, is exactly how the band prefers to describe their sound.

“They sound like the black shit in the drain of your kitchen sink,” the band jokes in their press release. If that doesn’t sell you, honestly, you might already be beyond saving.

A Band Built in the Long Saskatchewan Winter

DEAD SHIT EARTH is made up of familiar prairie lifers: Wes Biden (vocals), Matt Danttouze (bass), Curtis “Switz” Giesbrecht (guitar/vocals), Joel Garand (guitar), and Travis Becker (drums). This isn’t a fresh-out-of-the-garage teenage operation. These are guys who’ve been kicking around the Saskatchewan heavy scene long enough to remember when MySpace bands ruled the earth.

Danttouze, speaking on behalf of the group, is refreshingly matter-of-fact about their collective mileage.

“Oh yeah, yeah, I’ve been in bands for years… probably almost 20 years... ,” he says of his earliest projects. “Lots of the guys that play in Dead Shit Earth with — the drummer… I played in the first band I ever played in (with him).”

In other words: this is not their first rodeo. More like their fourth or fifth demolition derby.

Like many prairie metalheads of a certain vintage, Matt’s gateway drug wasn’t straight death metal but the mid-2000s swirl of pop-punk and screamo.

“I kind of came up through listening to like pop punk and screamo when that was like a thing,” he explains. “I Started off learning… tabs and then getting Guitar World… then going to like… a grindcore show… and ever since then it was like, okay — this is the hardest thing I could possibly find right now.”

There it is. The moment. Every lifer has one.

The Summit and the State of Saskatchewan Metal

DEAD SHIT EARTH recently flexed their muscles at the Saskatchewan Metal Summit, sharing the stage with provincial heavyweights including Into Eternity and Augurium. By all accounts, the room was packed. Not bad for a province that still gets stereotyped as cowboy country first, blast beats later right?

“It was awesome,” Matt says. “Our show... it was a packed room.”

He’s cautiously optimistic that events like the Summit are helping push heavier music back into the provincial spotlight.

“I think that summit was a really good step in the right direction for that to happen.”

And he might be onto something. Saskatchewan’s metal scene has always moved in cycles with the long winters of quiet punctuated by sudden bursts of noise but lately the energy does feel different.

The Kids Are Alright (and They’re Showing Up)

One of the more interesting threads in the his conversation with NSMZ was Danttouze’s observation about the post-pandemic surge in younger fans.

“In Saskatoon, grindcore was like a huge thing in the early 2000s,” he notes. “Then… all of a sudden… since the pandemic… the metal scene got huge.”

His theory is simple and surprisingly hopeful: all-ages shows.

“I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that there’s now all-ages shows… More kids are coming out… It’s wild in the last like four or five years here.”

For a genre that’s spent decades being declared dead every five minutes (nothing can kill the metal though right?), that’s not nothing. In fact, it might be the most encouraging thing a prairie metalhead can hear in 2026.

Controlled Filth: The Sound of Self Annihilation Prophecy

Even though Self Annihilation Prophecy has been out in the wild since summer 2024, it remains the clearest snapshot of what DEAD SHIT EARTH is about right now... It's ugly in all the right ways and proud of the grime under its fingernails.

The record is not interested in subtlety. It’s a bruising blend of death metal, grindcore velocity, hardcore punk urgency, and the occasional frostbitten whiff of black metal atmosphere. Fast blasting sections crash headfirst into slow, swampy death metal grooves that feel spiritually adjacent to bands like Incantation and early Entombed. Elsewhere, the DNA of Wolfpack, Tragedy, and Skitsystem bubbles to the surface.

The result is intentionally messy but not sloppy. When asked whether the slightly rough-around-the-edges production was a deliberate throwback move, Danttouze is blunt.

“Not really… We didn’t really have a game plan in mind… We kind of just recorded it… and put it in [Mike’s] hands for the mix master because he knows what he’s doing.”

Sometimes the best aesthetic choices are the ones you don’t overthink. Still, the band knew they’d hit something right when they heard the finished product.

“It sounds a lot bigger than you thought it would sound.”

That balance - dirty but not unlistenable - is exactly where DEAD SHIT EARTH lives.

“It’s not super polished sound, but it sounds big… a little dirty, but… not dirty enough to be like something that… sounds like shit.”

That’s prairie wisdom right there.

Old Roots, Not Old News

Despite the obvious old-school death metal DNA, DEAD SHIT EARTH isn’t trying to be a museum piece. Danttouze emphasizes that variety is key to keeping things from going stale.

“We try to change it up all the time… lots of our songs are kind of a little bit different from each other… It has a little bit more punky influences… some doomy kind of parts.”

That flexibility keeps Self Annihilation Prophecy from falling into the trap that swallows a lot of revivalist death metal — namely, sounding like a very competent cover band for an era that already happened.

What Comes Next (Besides More Noise)

The band isn’t treating the record like old news, either. With a growing live reputation and more recording plans on deck, DEAD SHIT EARTH is very much in build mode rather than victory-lap territory.

Their calendar is already filling up with shows. Recording sessions are also looming. Translation: they’re treating this like a working band, not a one-and-done pandemic project.

They’re also eyeing festival slots across Western Canada, including the ever-growing prairie metal circuit.

“It’s one of the best things about playing those kind of festivals,” Matt says. “Even just… moving the merch… there’s bound to be… bands that I’m like super into where I wouldn’t have even known about before.”

That community-first mentality has always been the lifeblood of extreme music on the prairies. Nobody gets big alone out here.

The Most Honest Mission Statement You’ll Hear All Year

When asked the big philosophical question: "who exactly is DEAD SHIT EARTH?" - Matt doesn’t reach for marketing fluff.

“We’re just a bunch of guys who like playing music for people.”

Full stop.

But dig a little deeper and there’s actually something quietly meaningful underneath the shrug. What the band really hopes for isn’t fame or festival headlining slots. It’s influence at the grassroots level.

“I hope… younger kids… see us and be like, oh, okay, that was sick… I can do this too.”

That might be the most punk rock answer possible.

Prairie Persistence

Out here on the prairies, scenes don’t explode. They simmer. They freeze. They thaw. They get weird in the middle and then, when nobody from Toronto is paying attention, they get loud again.

DEAD SHIT EARTH feels very much like part of that newest thaw.

They’re not reinventing death metal. They’re not chasing TikTok trends. They’re not polishing the rust off the sound to make it more digestible for polite company. What they are doing is showing up, loud, grimy, and stubborn, in a province that’s quietly growing another generation of heavy music lifers whether the rest of the country notices or not.

If Matt’s right and the kids keep wandering into all-ages shows, wide-eyed and curious then bands like DEAD SHIT EARTH aren’t just making noise. They’re laying kindling.

And sooner or later, something out here is going to catch fire.