Sound: This band is one the most unique hardcore punk bands I've ever heard. Although their first albm had more energy and seemed more like their true sound, this album allowed the band to diversify their tonal scapes and express a different range of emotions. There are more guitar techniques alone used in this album, mainly because they had more time alotted to finish this album and perfect it. This also applies to their great bassist who has penned some really effective bass lines to complement the raging drums and sparky guitar! What I love though is that, although they have put more effort into the recording process this time around, it's still not overly produced like some second albums can be. This band really do just have so much energy in them that no matter what the computer does with their songs, it still feels raw and powerful! // 9
Lyrics and Singing: Frank Turner is a folk singer at heart and obviously you expect some sought of Neil Young esque lyrical notes but you don't quite get that! Instead you have some of the most poetic and political lines you will ever here. The song Living The Dream is all about how he writes his songs. Notching down lines on the back of Supermarket receipts and so on. He is a very inventive and unique writter in that he doesn't use the typical policital routes. He prefers to sing obout Walt Disney or Newspapers which has not often been used. Especially in fast punk rock songs as these! But After The Rush Hour then talks about how, even back then Frank had more leanings to Folk music with the line "I'm a frontiers man, trapped in suburban England" which shows he can sing about more personal subjects and not just boring old politics! His voice is not the best on the planet but to be honest, like The Strokes it suits them perfectly. The chemsitry between this band was so overbearing that I feel that they have broken something really wonderful! // 10
Impression: What I love about Million Dead is everything. I can't put my finger down as to what it is that I like about so much. Maybe it's Frank's lyrics, maybe it's their enigmatic recordings, maybe it's their diversity who knows. I assume that is a good sign, very few bands can do that for me. Biffy Clyro are linked closely to them in my opinion. Maybe not so in sound but certainly in energy and uniqueness. That raw intensity and energy that echoes off every track is a rarity these days. Although they are not playing music together anymore (a huge disapointment). They have bashed together one of the best records of 2005. Holloway Prison Blues is one of my favourite songs, ever! Carthago Est Delenda is a song that truly shows their epic qualities as well. Showing they can do other styles along with super fast punk songs like Plan B and Bovine Spungiform Economics. // 9
Was this review helpful to you? 
