Dead Low – “Listen Up!”
Dead Low, not to be confused with the Live High, Andy Bang’s and I new band that combines the jam band aesthetics of bands like Phish and The Grateful Dead with early Norwegian death metal.
We’re almost ready to release our recordings, we’ve even decided which member of the band we’re gonna kill off first.
Well, it’s been nice knowing you all!
Dead Low is the newest band from Cape Cod to grace our ears filled with musicians that we’re well acquainted with.
And like the fillings of a tasty taco these musicians leave our mouth watering for more!
(Editor’s note: That line is too ridiculous, I’m going to delete it.)
Led by Chris Crobar of the great, heavy metal band Led To The Grave. Along with Nick Head Bitch, I mean, Nick Hebditch, who’s the singer/guitarist/songwriter for the great, punk/hardcore band Fast Times. Here he’s playing bass and adding back up vocals.
They are ably abetted by Dave Reinhardt who was Jimi Hendrix’s last drummer.
(Editor’s note: This is not true. Dave probably wasn’t even born yet when Hendrix died fifty years ago.)
Dead Low describe themselves accurately as a “punk rock’n’roll trio.” But I would add metal, as I hear it in the guitar leads and hardcore/Oi in the vocals, as well.
And I’m reminded of a band I used to love, Blue Oyster Cult in the music.
This release is sorta, kinda like if B.O.C. and Motorhead made an album with members of Thin Lizzy and Anti-Nowhere League sitting in.
Now, all these bands were or are great but I’m just using them as signposts.
As Rod Serling, lead singer of the Twilight Zone band once sang-
“You’re traveling through another dimension- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose are that of imagination. That’s a sign post up ahead. You’re next stop the Twilight Zone.”
Out of all those influences what is created is raw and rockin’, passionate and precision played, is wildly expressive and forcefully hard and fully encompasses all that Thrash N Bang built it’s hundered-aire empire upon. Namely- punk, metal and hardcore.
Let’s check it out before the editor notices me again:
With a chuggin’ guitar and almost boogie rock feel to it- (Editor’s note: We’re not in the seventies, no one will even have a clue what you’re referring to.) But once the vocals come in we’re assured to be in modern times with the gruffly, growling intense vocals. A cool, blazing guitar solo scorches in somewhere in the midst of this song. The tune ends with an extended growl while the instruments fail away like a cyclone descending on a Midwestern town. Maybe not a welcoming vision but certainly a sound and song you want to hear.
“Listen Up” blasts out with a barrage of energy and excitement like a classic Motorhead tune. This song is more hardcore driven with a bit of call and response vocal wise. “You don’t like what you see? I don’t give a fuck what you think.” While soaring melodic vocals swoop in like seagulls grabbing stray french fries off a beach boardwalk. The rhythm section is blistering away on all cylinders while the vocals and guitars collide in effective, wild display. This is my favorite tune on this EP.
“Battle Cries” starts with a Thin Lizzy like intro before the vocals come in all hardcore/Oi again. The vocals are melodic though with dissonant turns. The guitars chunk and chop mightily, the bass pulses and buzzes, the drummer controls the beat in perfect, powerful beats. There’s no battle in my mind, this song is flat out great.
This is rock music but very little of rock music I feel is worthy of calling itself rock’n’roll.
I would pick The Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Motorhead as the only authentic rock’n’roll band amongst the classic rock bands.
But I think of Dead Low as a rock’n’roll band and I think of that as high praise from me.
And listen up, Dead Low is high up on my musical requirements. The music they play is neither dead nor low but lively and elevating. It makes me feel alive and good to hear the music they play.
So listen up to Dead Low. Don’t be square. You don’t want to be thought of as one of those un-hip straights! Become one of the cool, rockin’ daddios or hip, swingin’ mamas that bop and rock to the new rockin’ beat sounds…
Don’t be a hipster but do listen to Dead Low.
(Slimedog)
