After two very fine albums in as many years, two singers and several other lineup changes The Dead Daisies are back with their third long-player – ‘Make Some Noise’ and a new guitarist in ex-Burning Rain and Whitesnake man Doug Aldrich.
On paper now the band has it all – It’s hard to imagine a more solid and groove-laden backline than Tichy and Mendoza, and Corabi in my eyes has always had one of the best rock voices since he found it in his Scream days. The real trump card though is the addition of Doug Aldridge, one of the best Hard Rock guitarists of his generation, who gives the guitar sound the real grit and an excellent tone to take it all to the next level.
Opening with single ‘Long Way to Go’ the album puts its dirty, bluesy Rock and Roll right on the table, it’s a great song, harder and grittier maybe than the Daisies have been before, but those guitars elevate it even further and the groove is even deeper. This is the sort of album established bands just don’t make these days, free, big, bad and cutting deep making it an album that you can’t just give a single spin.
‘We all Fall Down’ takes the bluesy vibe further, its gritty dark music that you wished Aerosmith had been making for the last three decades, and boasts some great harmonies underscored by some real free wailing guitar. ‘Song and a Prayer’ that follows in its wake gets back to that Dead Daisies trademark sound of Hard Rock swagger and huge harmonies led by Corabi’s beautifully paced and soulful vocal, it’s a song that grows on you with each listen.
‘Mainline’ is just simply storming Rock and Roll, evoking memories of what Aerosmith were at the time of ‘Rocks’ and ‘Draw the Line’: dirty and unchained, it’s a live classic in waiting. And the further you dig arguably the better it gets. Title track ‘Make Some Noise’ simply sears the meat: opening with huge ‘We Will Rock You’ type drums and a chunky riff it chugs along like a swampy bluesy rock anthem and grooves to oblivion with a gang backing vocal that underline Corabi’s intonation to ‘make some noise’.
Many bands of course have covered Creedence’s ‘Fortunate Son’ so it’s hard to expect more than a well-played faithful cover, but the intro and Corabi’s smoky vocal, and especially Aldridge’s guitar take it all up a notch. It has to be the song to bring in the masses on the lengthy Dead Daisies US and European Tour that stretches from July to September.
Sorry to harp on but ‘Last Time I Saw the Sun’ again has me thinking of my favourite band Aerosmith, there’s a taste of ‘Draw the Line’ in the guitar and Corabi really has that late seventies Steven Tyler intonation down pat; and to me Doug Aldridge has always has more than a hint of Joe Perry in is armour. ‘Mine All Mine’ keeps things going with a great grove and that certain swagger that can’t be churned out of a machine, it’s real elemental rock and roll made to hear live.
The album draws to a close with some of the meatiest tracks: ‘How Does it Feel’ stomps all over you with a huge crunching guitar and swirling melodies; ‘Freedom’ rocks out further on the same limb till your nails are digging in to just hold on and ‘All the Same’ reinjects that dirty Blues that opened the album to great effect.
The last word goes to one of the best here and another cover, this time a less obvious one: ‘Join Together’ is a call to arms without the Jew’s harp and harmonica intro, instead it gets straight to the meat of the song. Anyone who loves The Who will love this version a rocked out blues that celebrates all that The Dead Daisies is about. Rock and Roll is timeless of course and these guys know that more than most.
There are few Hard Rock bands out there today making music this good and the fact that The Dead Daisies have managed to up the ante with each release is something rock fans throughout the world should really relish. 2016 might just surpass previous years and take these guys to the very top. This might be the album Aerosmith could have made instead of ‘Done With Mirrors’.
