Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 04/15/2003
The Deadly Snakes' brand of
rootsy rock is derivative of many forms of loose, boozy, and sometimes trashy
rock & roll,
R&B, and
soul. There are always plenty of bands around that subscribe to a similar aesthetic, but on this record the band's a cut or two above most of the others in this particular camp. The songs have a spunky scruffiness that feels at once lived-in and not taken so seriously that there's not an undercurrent of self-mocking fun, particularly when
Andre Ethier takes lead vocals. While it's a mélange of time-tested revered forms like '60s
garage (particularly the kind with swirling cheesy organ), gritty
Southern soul, greasy
bar band raunch,
swamp rock, and the sardonic knowing hipness of
Lou Reed and
Bob Dylan, it blends together pretty well.
"Closed Casket" and
"Everybody Seems to Think (You've Got Some Kind of Hold on Me)" in particular sound like mid-'60s
Dylan gone
garage punk, while the ghost of
Reed peeks out in
"There Goes Your Corpse Again." It's also, in another difference from some other bands working off similar reference points, reasonably varied from cut to cut. The relatively unpenetrating lyrics, which relay the usual young frustration and angst in rousing but basic standard
rock & roll rebel language, are what keep it from being something more meaningful. It sounds at times rather like
the Lyres with a far greater
soul flavor (particularly in the periodic horns), which isn't a bad thing, just not the most wonderful thing.
~Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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