Mother nature can be a terrifying thing sometimes and in the world of crocodilians, nothing is more dangerous than the death roll. When a crocodile (or member of the crocodilia order) finds prey, they can latch on with their strong mouths and drag them underwater. Here they can perform the death roll, a series of rapid movements with one purpose: to kill. It’s a show of dominance and a strategic operation for food consumption and it’s nearly universal in all crocodilians. The death roll is an animalistic, brutal way to go. Disorienting, dismembering, deadly. It’s the perfect topic for a wild Nonagon Infinity song. “Evil Death Roll” is a complex and heavy garage rock jam focusing on the butchery of the death roll. The song is referenced at the end of “Mr. Beat” where the main riff is played, and quotes the song “Wah Wah” at 4:01. It also prominently features the main melody of “Invisible Face” during the breakdown).
A demo of the song (first heard during the band’s unannounced demo stream and released on Demos Vol. 1: Music To Kill Bad People To) shows the track in its earliest stages. While there are no lyrics, the main structure is there with a simple lineup of guitars, bass and drums. The only feature unique to the demo is its middle section which is reminiscent of Van Morrison’s 1970 song “Moondance”, and features a riff similar to the verses of “Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer.”
The song’s earliest known performance was on 2015-5-30 at The Factory Theatre in Sydney. While 2015 featured a handful of Nonagon songs in early stages, “Evil Death Roll” is probably the closest to the studio version out of the bunch. Then referred to as “Evil Devil,” its verses are mostly intact and the instrumental is all there, barring the demo’s jazz rock section and the quotes of “Robot Stop” and “Invisible Face” that would later be added. An early version of the song can be heard in the band’s documentary BOOTLEG HOLIDAY FROM HELL.
The song was recorded at Brooklyn’s Daptone Records by Wayne Gordon. The song appeared in promotional material for Nonagon Infinity in early 2016 and was released on that album on April 29th, 2016. A music video for the song was planned as part of the Nonagon Infinity film project but no info has been revealed about what it would have been.
The song would have a few other moments in the spotlight following its release. A motif from the song would later appear in “The Balrog” from 2017’s Murder of the Universe, the song would later be released as the first and only single for Live In San Francisco ‘16 and it later appeared on the soundtrack for the video game Gran Turismo Sport.
The song was played heavily in 2016 and continued to make consistent appearances throughout the following years, though it did slow down from 2017 to 2018. Around 2019 the line “let’s start killing things” began to change into “let’s start shooting things.” As the band entered their “jam era” in 2022/2023 the song began to wind into different territories, incorporating lighter sounding elements to the diabolical sound of the song and extending it beyond previous versions. In this time they began to skip the “Invisible Face” tease, abbreviating the song proper while making room for improvisation.