Album Reviews
On their first outing for Iodine Recordings and their first new album in six years, Seattle’s Dead Bars more than deliver. On ‘All Dead Bars Go To Heaven’ took a bit of a different approach. Whereas driving force John Maiello previously wrote all the songs, this time around he asked each band member to bring a song to the table. I’m not sure if that’s the sole reason, but on ‘All Dead Bars Go To Heaven’ the band sounds more dynamic and diverse than ever before. Initially compared to bands like Iron Chic, The Bouncing Souls, and Mean Jeans, this time around I’m hearing more Japandroids and Sheer Mag with some Pkew Pkew Pkew mixed in than any of the abovementioned bands.
From the kind of raucous party anthems that Andrew W.K. would be jealous of (‘I Wanna Be A Ghost’, ‘Wait So Long’) and the Weezer-esque ‘Give The Metalhead A Hug’ to the string-enhanced acoustic ‘Bad Life’ and the Camper Van Beethoven reminiscent ‘Missed Connection’, Dead Bars still deliver the kind of life-affirming anthems that deserves to be played as loud as possible.
All Dead Bars Go To Heaven tracklist:
- I Wanna Be A Ghost
- Last Call Alarm
- I Live Here Now
- Wait So Long
- Underground
- Valentine Heart
- Bad Life
- Missed Connection
- Give the Metalhead a Hug
- Be Me
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
