DEAD POETIC – Vices

Dead Poetic is a Hard Rock band from Dayton, Ohio. The band was formed in 1997, but released their first full-length Four Wall Blackmail CD in 2002. The first two releases gave critics a hard time classifying the band’s musical style. They were branded everything from Post-Hardcore to Screamo. The band members have claimed that they’re not a Screamo band, and vocalist Brandon Rike proclaimed that “… when we’re talking about the best records of all time; I’m definitely a dude that’s going to talk about Led Zeppelin before I’m talking about Refused.”

Vices is Dead Poetic’s third record. It was released in the USA on Halloween 2006, and is set for release in Europe January 22nd, 2007. The music itself is characterized by long high tones from the vocals, typical Hard Rock riffs, and psychedelic guitar sounds. Though there are no guitar solos, the incredible voice of Rike and the psychedelic guitar sounds fill the space, so the guitar solos aren’t really needed. The album has a sense of Stone Temple Pilots meets Deftones to it, and that’s probably not so weird since Deftones’ vocalist Chino Moreno co-wrote and contributed with his vocals on two of the tracks on the record.

The opener “Cannibal vs. Cunning” is right in your face with hard guitar riffs and a pounding bass. Rike dominates the song with his powerful and high-ranged voice. On “Lioness,” he adds more rawness to the song, and the link to Chino Moreno becomes clearer. “Narcotic” is a little rawer than the previous, and it’s nice to hear double vocals and some experimenting with the vocal parts too. The song has some pace-changes, and overall it’s a good song. This song sets, along with “Cannibal vs. Cunning” and “Long Forgotten,” the Hard Rock standard that embosses the first part of the record.

With “Sinless City,” the record takes on an alternative and different style of Rock. It’s slower than the earlier songs on the album, but still there is rawness in the song that sounds cool. “Paralytic” and “Crashing Down” are on the same street as “Sinless City,” but have more intensity. This may be due to the co-writing and guest vocals of Chino Moreno. Rike impresses with his high-ranged vocals on this one, and Moreno is, of course, great as always. “Animals” is a song that shouldn’t have been on the album. This is a guitars/vocals tune that just doesn’t work out. It’s a shame really, because the album would have been much better without it. The title-track is a good closure for the album. It’s slow and melancholy and has a fine orchestra sound at the end.

It’s important to give credit where credit is due, and credit should be given to producer Aaron Sprinkle (Pedro The Lion, Anberlin). The production is great, and instead of overproducing the record and making it pompous, Sprinkle has kept the rawness in the music. The guitars are extremely raw, and the bass is still very readable and sounds good in the mix. The production along with the great song material makes the record a mind-thrilling experience.

Bassist John Brehm and drummer Jesse Sprinkle adds the necessary depth to the music. It sounds like Brehm is having a great time and just experimenting over the ground notes that most bassists in this genre would have settled for playing. Sprinkle does a great job behind the drums and shows a little more effort than the straightforward rhythms he could have accepted. The only negative thing about this record is that they have decided to use a drum machine instead of the real thing on “Copy Of A Copy.” By the sound of it, Sprinkle is a good drummer, so why not also use of him for this cut? The drum sound on this track sounds like crap and it’s a shame that they haven’t realized this themselves.

Regardless, it must be said that Vices is a good Hard Rock/Alternative Rock album and is a recommended purchase.

Lineup

Zach Miles – Guitar
John Brehm – Bass
Jesse Sprinkle – Drums
Brandon Rike – Vocals
Dusty Redmon – Guitar

Tracklist

1. Cannibal vs. Cunning
2. Lioness
3. Self-Destruct & Die
4. Narcotic
5. In Coma
6. Long Forgotten
7. Pretty Pretty
8. Sinless City
9. The Victim
10. Paralytic
11. Animals
12. Crashing Down
13. Copy Of A Copy
14. Vices