In so many ways, the mid-2020s have just been a speedrun of the late aughts. A looming recession, neon pop-punk in the mainstream, the word “electroclash” appearing in press releases, and now Salem once again inching out of the shadows. Except this time around, the Michigan witch house sorcerers might actually claim the limelight. The same day they dropped a money-printing merch collab with Supreme that had Fred Durst reacting in the comments, Salem surprise-released Red Dragon, a new compilation of music that old fans mostly already know. The 31-track, 101-minute tome assembles many of the leaks and loosies that have been circulating on unofficial YouTube accounts since the early 2010s, and it tacks on four new songs that could easily scan as aged rarities.
For the chronically inactive trio-turned-duo of Jack Donoghue and John Holland, a career retrospective like Red Dragon feels tactically timed. It’s been six years since 2020’s Fires in Heaven, the good-not-great follow-up to their immortal 2010 debut, King Night. Salem have barely done anything since then, but their sound and aesthetic are prominent as ever. Electro-pop breakouts like Snow Strippers and Slayyyter are jacking their Midwest dirtbag swag, while Sematary, Ghost Mountain, and their Haunted Mound emo-rap covenant faithfully worship King Night’s cursed sound. Much like how the Supreme collection adds Salem’s subterranean style to the closets of Depop posers, Red Dragon functions as a gallery of their rarest music for newcomers to gaze upon.
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Most of the archival material on Red Dragon seems to date back to Salem’s prolific early years between their 2006 formation and their 2010 breakthrough. The best songs in the batch reiterate that, for all the coattail riders they’ve collected over the last 20 years, no one’s ever successfully beaten Salem at their own game. The track “Tent” was performed at their infamous Fader Fort set 16 years ago, but the way Donoghue’s pitched-down pleas for deliverance blur into the narcotic trap beat still sounds like a transmission from an unrealized future. “Kin” is another near-vintage song that remains tremendously singular. The 2008 track, created the same year as Salem’s similar sounding Water EP, is a hybrid of ghastly shoegaze and nod-off trap that no one in shoegaze’s ongoing renaissance has even tried to build upon. They’d fail if they did.
For all the ways in which Red Dragon celebrates Salem’s enduring appeal, it’s also a reminder of what they’re now missing. A couple of the compilation’s standout songs contain vocals from ex-member Heather Marlatt, who appeared to acrimoniously split with the band prior to Fires in Heaven. “Red Dragon,” the full version of a snippet that was teased over a decade ago, and “Withoutu,” an anemic cover of the Cranberries’ “When You’re Gone,” both feature Marlatt’s phantasmic croons. Her creepy-doll incantations, juxtaposed with Donoghue’s zombified raps, have been missing in all of Salem’s music since her departure, including the four new tracks on Red Dragon: “Everyday,” “Blood Brothers,” “Drive by,” and “Daughter.” Salem’s usual tincture of foggy-eyed synths, hollowed-out trap claps, and Holland’s anesthetic wails are all intact, but, much like the aimless side-B of Fires in Heaven, these songs are lacking the debauched personality and crepuscular aura of Salem’s early years.
Red Dragon is both a blessing and a letdown. It’s the most Salem music we’ve ever received at once, nearly doubling their officially sanctioned discography overnight and unsheathing a bunch of gems that most casual fans have probably never heard. The record’s many high points underscore why Salem’s foreboding sound and freaked atmosphere are still so enticing to mimic, but its gratuitous length also reveals the limits of their abilities. For every two flashes of brilliance there’s another track that just sounds like an unfinished instrumental, or a new cut that shrivels at the feet of the old ones.
Distance has always been one of Salem’s central appeals. Between their compact catalog and their limited public presence, the band always left you feeling like they had something more to say. The less you knew about them—the less you heard by them—the more mystical their dark lore and drugged-out music became. Now, by hawking hypebeast wares and gussying up their leaks for DSPs, Salem are making themselves more visible than ever. Coming from one of the last great millennial mysteries, Red Dragon throws open the chest of guarded treasures, but at what cost?
