Biography

Jason Wisdom wants to create something that’s missing.

His band, Death Therapy, is a two-man metal band that has no real genre. It’s groovy, industrial, and it has zero guitar. He’s on the right track.

Before Death Therapy, Wisdom was the lead singer and bassist for the metal core band Becoming The Archetype. Twelve years, four records, and countless tours later, he took a step back to care for his family.

He didn’t touch an instrument for nearly four years.

Now he’s back, bass in hand, and he’s doing it his way. Comprised of himself and a drummer, they actively tour in a way that allows Wisdom to be uncompromising at home and in his music. “And let’s be honest, every bass player secretly dreams of starting a band where they don’t need a guitarist,” laughs Wisdom. “Having creative control and touring with just be the two of us gives me a lot of freedom.”

The freedom he feels is on full display in his music as well. “There’s a certain stream of consciousness element to my writing process with Death Therapy,” he explains. “I try to let things pour out of me organically and I just leave them there.” The approach is a far departure from the technical music he’s created in the past, but the literary style better represents the artist himself: a fluid and malleable musician who processes as he builds.

The song “Slow Dance (With Death),” off their debut record The Storm Before The Calm, is a good representation of Wisdom’s writing approach. The lyrics “I’m just tired of surviving, slow dancing with death every day of my life” is, in Wisdom’s words, from “an actual dark moment in my own soul.” His lyrical themes are raw and therapeutic, and both the band name and the record’s title showcase the emotional wrestling that is woven throughout the project.

“There’s a song on there record called ‘The Lie,’” explains Wisdom, “which is about just wanting the pain I feel to go away, but then realizing that pain is part of existing, and is meant for a greater purpose. To snuff out the pain would snuff me out too.” Put simply, it’s a song churning with suicidal thoughts. “Suicidal thoughts themselves are the lie. They have the opposite effect; they intensify the pain and spread it out to others. As I approached this project, I asked myself, how can I write lyrics that are vulnerable, honest, and true to real life? I have to write ones that aren’t necessarily comfortable.”

And while it certainly isn’t sugarcoated, Death Therapy’s album isn’t one without hope. “I looked out and didn’t see anyone touching on these themes from the direction I am—from the perspective of someone that believes in ultimate meaning and hope, but also acknowledges sometimes life is ugly and uncontrollable. Admitting the former doesn’t mean denying the latter. A lot of people don’t understand that, and opt for a superficial, false hope instead—one that cannot withstand difficult times. To face tragedy with a hope that is artificial is an even greater tragedy than to face it head on with a hope that can withstand anything.” The record releases February 24th on Solid State Records, and although Storm Before The Calm insinuates “the calm” isn’t a place he’s reached yet, it’s certainly the destination he’s laboring towards.

Jason Wisdom wants to create something that’s missing, and he’s certainly on the right track.