The art of playing straight-up punk rock seems to be virtually forgotten in today’s scene of image-conscious hairstyles and androgynous looks. Thank fuck for Dead Vicious. The Wellington four-piece never pander to expectations, never change to try and stay precariously balanced on any kind of trendy bandwagon. Instead, they just play sloppy, stripped-down punk – and perversely end up sounding fresh.
This EP features five tracks that are fairly descriptive of the Dead Vicious sound, especially with regards to their lyrical bent. The words may not be the most elegant, nor do they even always fit in rhythmically, but the message of the songs is always up front and clearly obvious to any listener. They are often sung off-key and out of time, but in this case that matters little. This is acerbic stuff, the target invariably the rich and powerful, the charge is exploiting those they can.
Production quality is very low-fi and musically things are always simple. On an objective level, this CD should be awful…and yet, somehow, it succeeds. The cliché around punk rock is that all that matters is “three chords and the truth” and for Arrested Development this most assuredly is the case. Cutting, catchy songs carrying blunt messages of rebellion. What is more punk rock than that?
Matt, Punkas.com
| Released | 2006, March 30 |
| Label | DIY |
| Formats | CD/ DL |
| Recorded | Ken’s lounge/ Bryony’s room |
| Mixed/ Mastered | Miklin Halstead, MDA Studios |
| Cover art | Ricky Wood |
Credits
- Ken Vicious (vocals, guitar)
- Grant Vicious (bass, vocals)
- Bill Vicious (guitar, vocals)
- Scotty Vicious (drums)
