Dead Good
Only formed roughly 18 months ago, Dead City Souls release their debut self-titled 'Mini Album', an EP in old money, and it is what you would call 'a grower'. It started off being an enjoyable 27 minutes and, with multiple listens, grew into a stomping release.
Dead City Souls have been likened to Guns N' Roses, which other than the fact Slash originally hailed from their hometown, it is a bit unfair on the Stoke-On-Trent quintet. Their music comes from the harder side of rock and certainly more edgy without the need to be controversial in the lyrics. Ok, so there may be elements of insert tab A into slot B in the making of this mini album but Dead City Souls do at least make it a far better experience than putting together Ikea furniture.
Dead City Souls effectively is a 6 track affair, once you have taken the intro Embark out of the equation. The real music kicks off in fine style with Back Against which immediately lets you know Dead City Souls are going to rock your socks off. They don't let up to pulsating your ear drums with the likes of Breathe and Hurt No More, with its Slash-esque guitar solo, certainly setting the bar very high. Jordan Davies' vocals are above and beyond the norm, perfectly toned to go hand in hand with the music, which really shows maturity beyond the band's age.
The only aspect of Dead City Souls that doesn't hit the spot were the extended group "Woa's" on the final track, Watch The World Burn, just made it sound too much like 80's 'hair metal' which these boys most certainly are not. Should be added that as they only occur twice on the track it did not completely ruin what is in essence a good ending to a highly enjoyable debut.
The reports are that Dead City Souls put on a great performance live, so it is definitely worth setting aside time to check them out. Something tells us we will be hearing a lot more from these lads.