Death Eyes’ final EP, State of Fear, was released digitally through Three One G Records.

Death Eyes first came to be in January of 2014, a merging of members from San Diego bands Rats Eyes and Death Crisis (hence the name), made up of Alberto Jurado (vocals), Jimmy Armbrust (bass), Jason Blackmore (guitar), and John Cota (drums). More recently, Cole Mears took over as bassist, with plans of more extensive touring. Having played with bands such as The Weirdos, Agent Orange, M.D.C., Nails, and Big Business, it’s evident that what emerged was something brutal, potent, and relevant to hardcore punk.

Tragically, in the midst of working on what was to be their upcoming LP, the band suddenly lost vocalist Alberto Jurado in January 2020, just weeks before they were set to tour with Big Business. This EP is what was completed from these final sessions. The accompanying video for “Management Is Not Your Friend” serves as a mix of brutal, relevant found footage, as well as live performances that celebrate all of the life and swagger that Alberto had, always. “We Miss You, Alberto. Rock’n Roll!!!”

Guitarist Jason Blackmore: “We had been working on new material in 2019 for what would have been our new full length record. The plan was to do ten songs more in the vein of our “AmRep/Jesus Lizard” kinda rock song vibe. No short thirty second hyper hardcore songs. Hell, one of the songs was actually over six minutes long. Anyway, we recorded the music for five new songs in September of 2019 and Alberto started writing lyrics for those soon after. We were set to do a West Coast tour with Big Business in February. So Alberto had been putting the vocals down for the songs that we had already recorded and the plan was to record the music for the other five new songs directly after the Big Biz tour. And then go into the studio and record Alberto’s vocals for those tunes. Turn everything in by early June. Drop the new album by October and hit the road to spread the word. On January 20th Alberto died suddenly after being rushed to the hospital while experiencing chest and stomach pains. He had been super excited about writing, recording and touring. More so than he had been in a long time. It was almost like he knew that he was living on borrowed time. He never talked about his health situation. He never wanted to bore you with conversations about himself. He just wanted to be himself. Play music. Talk about music. Drink beer. Love and laugh. And he had an infectious laugh. And a genuine soul. He was a true one of a kind. We miss him dearly. Rock’n Roll!!!”

If you were lucky enough to have met and known Beto then chances are you have a sweet story to tell. He was a great performer and a good human being. He is missed.

In Alberto’s own words: Stay magical.