Commencement (album)

Commencement is the major debut studio album by American rock band Deadsy, released on May 14, 2002. Initially suspended upon distribution changes at Sire, it was officially released through DreamWorks under the Elementree sublabel. It includes the single "The Key to Gramercy Park" which had a music video. Featuring guest musicians and industry figures such as Jonathan Davis, it was a commercial disappointment, selling 100,000 copies by 2006.

Blue has cited Gary Numan, Type O Negative, and Black Sabbath as the album's influences. While containing obvious electronic elements of the '80s, such as shrill synthesizer melodies and generously reverberated percussion, the album also features deep, purring guitar distortion and clean, goth like vocals. Commencement features two cover songs: "Brand New Love" written by Lou Barlow of the band Sebadoh and "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. It also boasts guest appearances by Jonathan Davis (Korn), Troy Van Leeuwen (Failure, A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age), Jay Gordon (Orgy), and John Taylor (Duran Duran). Blue noted that the long delay "ultimately, for longevity's sake, worked in our favor" and allowed the songs to develop in re recording. Regarding its electronic heavy nature, Blue would later describe the album as "more synthetic" compared to Deadsy's 2006 follow up. The mansion is shown behind a fountain of skulls, based on the school's Sunken Garden, The band also opened for Static X on a few dates of their own tour. During this time, Deadsy's Elijah Blue contributed vocals to "What's Going On (Reality Check Mix)" a collaborative reworking led by Fred Durst. In May, Deadsy performed with Papa Roach and the following month joined Puddle of Mudd for the US leg of Korn's Untouchables Tour. Late in the summer, keyboardist Dr. Nner allegedly broke both wrists but continued touring. The band played with Taproot and Dredg in August. "The Key to Gramercy Park" was originally released alongside "Mansion World" as a double A sided single in late 2001. It was then re released in anticipation of Commencement and to coincide with its music video. The video was directed by Fred Durst at Hayvenhurst Studios in Van Nuys, California and debuted on April 31, 2002. Durst, who became a fan after hearing Deadsy's earlier material, praised the band's willingness to shoot extensively in a cloud of : "I laid down in it for 10 seconds and my throat dried up and I was feeling nauseous. These guys have been in it for three hours This is their first video and they are seriously taking a beating." The haunting video has each member associated with a specific color and graphic. Frontman Elijah Blue noted that it "has sort of a remedial context to its visuals. It kind of explains a little bit about the band." Blue also described the song as "kind of the Trojan horse of the record We feel like this is simply a good rock jam. It's very impressionistic. It's very powerful and simply in your face." The song did not manage to chart. A cover of Sebadoh's "Brand New Love" would serve as a follow up single in October 2002. It, too, had a music video released in November which contained concert footage with brief cameos of numerous tour mates. Like its predecessor, "Brand New Love" would not land on the charts. Deadsy had reportedly wanted to release "Winners" or "Mansion World" as a third single, but this did not occur. A live performance of "Tom Sawyer" was included on the Family Values Tour 2001 compilation released in May 2002. A remix of the track "Mansion World" by trance music group Deepsky was included on their 2002 album In Silico, titled "The Mansion World (Deepsky's Trippin' in Unknown Territory Mix)."