BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
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On to their latest (and greatest) CD Bring Out Your Dead. The recording of which was very difficult due to internal disputes within the band leading to blonde bombshell bassist Laura Salmon leaving in somewhat acrimonious circumstances, along with drummer Rob Hillman – due to business differences. So, with a new line up in place, how does it sound? Fan-bloody-tastic is the answer!
1. My Hate A brief couple of symbols being bashed, then it’s off into the faster than light opener…savage and bitter lyrics – main song writer and singer Lakis Kyriacou has clearly had a bad time in relationships – rip along with great venom. The vocals, a mixture of clean (sung by Lakis) & death metal style (by 2nd guitarist Steve Martin) work brilliantly and this is a style that runs through the album.
2. Because of You A cool bass intro lead into another brilliant track, with Maiden style multiple time changes & some simply stunning guitar work by Lakis & Steve.
3. Lost Simply beautiful, and heartbreaking. Anybody who has been through a tough time in a relationship will relate to this. The “I Hate My Life – This Life Hates Me” line sung in death metal style really cuts home. Wonderful
4. Excuses Another slow, bass led melodic intro leads into a lively mid-paced rocker, with the highlights being some really cool solo’s by the dynamic duo!
5. Losing Grip A lovely piano intro, leads up into a brutal riff leading into an emotional and powerful song, highlights being some wonderful guitar work by Lakis & Steve (the best guitar partnership since Smith & Murray? not far off imo) Death metal vocals are to the fore here and yet again work brilliantly.
6. Wasted Days A really heartbreaking song - played out wonderfully as always – there are no answers at the bottom of the bottle………so true.
7. Political Correctness I hope Poodle Blair & his Master Mr Bush listens to this! A wonderful intro, which even uses a didgeridoo(!) really builds up with wonderful melody, style & power into a biting attack on the state of the world - this is where the death metal vocals really hits home. At over 7 minutes, this is epic in every sense & is simply brilliant, please, it must be played live!
8. Your Turn To Fall And it gets better & even more epic! A mid-paced intro leads into a wonderfully savage song, full off powerful lyrics, vocal harmonies, multiple time changes, savage death metal vocals & breathtaking solo’s . In other words, yet another brilliant track on a brilliant CD
9. Nothing To Believe In Lovely cool intro to this……….mid paced, but with wonderfully clean & sad vocals by Lakis. This is emotional stuff, but it is pulled off with style & power, with some great guitar interplay from L & S.
10. No Reward Brilliantly sung entirely in death metal style by Steve, this really is a steamroller of a song, about the falsehoods of religion being forced upon us (I think!) …..Fantastic solos abound, a really blistering track.
11. Blood On Our Hands. An interesting one. Intro features news clips talking about the Iraq war and how the US are losing it, is used as backing to hard hitting track about the futility of this war and when the hell are we ever going to learn the lesson that all the loss of life will not achieve anything. The mighty Iron Maiden would be proud of doing a song like this. Great stuff.
Summary : If any band deserved a break into the big time , then it is Area 54. They have really produced the goods here, and along with Machine Heads “The Blackening” have produced the album of the year. If there is any justice, then BOYD should do it for them. How this band have not made it yet and bands like Bullet For My Valentine have, is one of the mysteries of the age. BFMV are good, don’t get me wrong, but ’54 are streets ahead of them in style, musical skill and song writing ability. No competition, no contest.
Prodigals Star rating: An easy 10/10
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