Directed by Jeff Howlett and Mark Christopher Covino • 2012 • United States

Before punk took the world by storm, there was a band called Death, the project of three African American teenage brothers from Detroit, Michigan. At a time when Black music meant funk, soul, and disco, they forged a visionary sound that was hard, fast, loud, and politically charged. In the words of Questlove, “This is the Ramones, but two years earlier.” Nearly forgotten for decades—the promise of a record deal dissipated when the group refused to change their controversial name—Death’s ahead-of-their-time music has finally reached a new generation of hardcore fans and record obsessives. Told through the emotionally rich testimonies of the group’s two surviving members, this stirring documentary is both a revelatory slice of punk history and a deeply moving story of family, loss, and uncompromising artistic perseverance.