Dead to Me - Cuban Ballerina

So here it is, a review of Dead to Me’s debut album. It felt necessary, after posting pretty glowingly about their recent EP. So here goes. I’m going to try and do this up right, and review it without thinking of- or at least talking about- where there music would go on the aforementioned EP. Wish me luck.

Dead to Me rose from the ashes of One Man Army, along with “Chicken” from Western Addiction. The band features primarily Jack Dalrymple on vocals, with Chicken providing vocals on a handful of tracks, and backing vocals on almost every song on the album. The switching off between Dalrymple’s smoother voice and delivery, to Chicken’s gruffer style provides a great juxtaposition on many songs (in particular, “By the Throat”). At some points, though, Dalrymple’s vocals remind me of Gerard Way. It’s not consistent, just something that happens every now and again. It’s the damnedest thing.

The music here is pretty straight-up pop-punk. The twin guitar attack works well, and the songs are consistently catchy and dancable. One thing about the music is that one could see this band easily becoming popular outside of the punk scene; there’s definitely crossover potential in their sound. They seem to be moving in this direction, evidenced by the 2008 EP (shit, there I go). They have a very strong pop sensibility, and it comes through on the music. One definitely feels the One Man Army influences here, and this album will definitely appeal to fans of that band who are still mourning their demise, but Dalrymple is clearly benefiting from the addition of Chicken.

All in all, this is a really great album. Totally fun and energetic, and a blast to listen to.

If you’re curious about the sound, there’s a video for “Special Professional” on YouTube. Check it out.

Rating: 4 stars.

Dead to Me - Little Brother EP (2008)

Just a quickie here. I missed out on Dead to Me’s 2006 debut record, Cuban Ballerina, and really only caught this EP because it’s streaming for free on PunkNews.org at the moment (check it out here) and decided, with the praise I kept hearing in the comment section, I could give it a listen.

Having done so, it’s a great listen. Singer/guitarist Jack Dalrymple is really fantastic, laying down some really fun, catchy vocals, over pop-punk, with a heavy emphasis on the pop side of the equation, in the best way possible; specifically, the song “Arrythmic Palpitations” has a melody that calls to my mind the sort of neo-British Invasion records that bands like Locksley are putting out these days. Actually, that could be an apt description for the album as a whole.

Since you can check out the whole EP for free, I highly recommend you do so. I definitely need to go back and check out that full-length now.

Rating: 4 stars