Who are Dead Or American?
Dead or American are a band that don't like to give much away. We have two pages from the PR company, one of which from the band itself who are able to amble on about how thankful they are at many people for making this possible, but fail to really tell us much more than that! It is, however good therefore that I find their MySpace page, which...yes, you've guessed still doesn't fill me in. Okay, so they are from Scotland, or Stirling as I have managed to fathom out, so let's just let the music do the talking, shall we?
First song, 'Flame Out' starts out gently with melodic guitars before sitting in a groove of Brit rock which appears to be so popular nowadays. There is a flash of aggression in the chorus that gives the impression that this isn't just mamby-pamby public-schoolboy guff-sniffing pap. Next song 'Ex-Liar' certainly starts off with more balls with the screechy-screaming vocals, before the song kicks in with some meaty guitars and something that flirts between hardcore and screamo. There are definite leanings towards a band like Please Mr Gravedigger, here and I'm wondering whether this is the shape of things to come. However, the beginning to 'Kalashnikov' is enough to make you press skip as it is like an alarm, and you could easily put this on your CD/Clock Radios to get you out of bed in the morning.
'Don't Hold Your Breath' is simple and refreshing with it's dirty rock influence, it's a mellower cousin of Iggy Pop, and a definite high of the album. 'Two Minutes Past Nine' is a waste of time, especially when you have songs like 'Once More Into The Breech' with a thick bass-line and it's balls-to-the-wall attitude, that is what Dead Or American should be concentrating on!
Songs like 'Liquidation' will have you thinking of Artic Monkeys, there is just no way around it, whilst 'Deuterenomous Surge' has a slight stoner rock of Fu-Manchu about it. 'Thousand Hills' is some bizarre instrumental that isn't sure whether it is a chill-out tune or a showcase in a rock music epic. I'm not sure what DOA are trying to achieve with this, but for me, it hasn't worked...
One of the things I've managed find out is that the band say that they are all about playing live, and perhaps this will therefore make them a better band to watch, and some of their long introductions or instrumentals may be more fully appreciated, than by someone who has to sit down and listen to them without the full live experience. Dead Or American as an album has more ups and downs than a hyperactive yo-yo. I'm not sure that DOA are fully aware of what their sound is. The album taken as individual songs are very well crafted and probably nailed, however as an album there are so many styles here that you are never too sure exactly what you are going to get. There are songs that fit nicely in the genre of Keane, Razorlight, Artic Monkeys etc, however then we have more aggressive songs that would quite frankly scare the heebie-jeebies out of fans of these bands!
Dead Or American are worth checking out live – whoever they are, and until I do this, the jury is still out...