DEAD POET SOCIETY - -!-
Dead Poet Society’s debut album, -!-, should be a cause for excitement for any fan of energetic rock music, and any listener can expect to be pushed through their entire emotional range from start to finish.
Dead Poet Society’s full length debut, -!-, is a breakneck collision of multiple styles and genres. At an intersection between rock, metal, indie and blues, this LA-based four-piece have set up a meaty yet accessible sound that can offer a bit of something to everyone.
As with many debuts, the sound is injected with a dynamism that suggests there is a point to prove here, which inspires an energetic listening experience. Even after listening through multiple times, I struggled to resist the urge to get up and move to the exciting chaos of their sound.
Jack Underkofler’s delicate vocals offer a precarious counterbalance to the raw energy of Jack Collins on guitar, Dylan Brennan on the bass, and Will Goodroad on drums. To call these ‘accompanying members’ would be doing the band a disservice, as each individual part battles it out for the limelight, creating an energy that cuts close to the vein of chaos.
If there was to be a winner of this drag race for the limelight, it would have to be Goodroad on the drums. His energetic drum fills coordinate the charging attack mounted on your ears, bringing every beat together in a kind of vicious brawler’s combination that constantly seeks to deliver the killer blow.
It is not all bass-heavy riffs and mountainous drum fills though, songs like ‘I Never Loved Myself Like I Loved You’ and ‘Haunted’ provide a much more understated layer to the album. ‘I Never Loved Myself Like I Loved You’ is certainly set to be one of the most popular songs of the album, channeling the atmospheric sounds of successful indie bands like Catfish and the Bottlemen and The Hunna. With this variety packed into their debut, when listening to this album, one can expect to be pushed through their entire emotional range from start to finish.
What is interesting about this debut is the self-consciousness of it. With three separate spoken-word interludes breaking up the music, at times Dead Poet Society walk the line between self-awareness and nervousness. Although their sound may be unapologetic, such small moments that we see in tracks like ‘gopi’ cast a shadow of doubt over whether this band are completely comfortable with their own genre-flipping style.
That being said, Dead Poet Society’s debut album, -!-, should be a cause for excitement for any fan of energetic rock music. Scheduled to perform at Download festival this year, I would not be surprised to see them gain a strong UK following for years to come.
Max Bover
★★★★☆