dead endconception | final feast | yume oni uta (2011/2012) Coincidence, or a another subtle sign of Dead End’s awesomeness: the first single’s title is one word, the second’s is two and the third’s three — but they’re all exactly TEN LETTERS long! (Or a sign of mental illness in me for noticing/caring?) Anyway, there’s some good shit here in advance of the release of their March 7th album Demon Dream Analyzer. The A-sides will appear on the album, but the B-sides won’t. So are the B-sides worth it? “Conception” bumps and twirls like an angry downhill snowboarder on the verge of losing his balance, Morrie gets a little Kyo-ey, and the chorus resolves into what’s becoming known as the “standard Dead End heavy chorus”: four measures of Morrie hitting high notes, his vocal lines closely following the guitar’s, with rests in between so that the instruments might assert themselves unburdened. It still works but I can see a day when it gets old. The b-side is happier, bouncier, kinda surfy or driving-fasty-on-the-weekendy, paycheck in you pocket and friends awaiting your arrival at the bar.  Worth hearing! :) ~ “Final Feast” is a badass strut. Walking home on Brooklyn streets, it was impossible not to DEMAND the right of way from impatient drivers by stepping in front of their turning cars with this song playing in my head! “Blackout” is a little Megadethy in a good way (fast single string riffs that inspire images of Dave Mustaine’s bouncing mane) and a little operatic in a bad way (falsetto vocals sprinkled liberally throughout). The individual parts in the bridge and pre-chorus don’t gel quite as well as you’d hope, like the guys never quite reached a consensus. Still cool tho. :) ~ “Yume Oni Uta”, with its spare and echoing acoustic guitar, puts you in a Kagrra mood, though the pacing is more like a Bubblegum crisis track til the halfway point, when we shift gears into a cockier sound, the guitar like Beyonce Z-snapping at you.  “Jigoku no Kisetsu” must’ve been the bottom of the barrel for them, because it feels unfocused and blurry, little better than a so-so jam session, though there’s a nice (and all-too-quick) transition at the three-minute mark, right before the sloppy solo (at least the first half is sloppy — the second manages to find the pocket). Not quite a winner, this one. :/ But obviously you’re gonna get all three. ^_^ 
View Separately

dead end
conception | final feast | yume oni uta (2011/2012)

Coincidence, or a another subtle sign of Dead End’s awesomeness: the first single’s title is one word, the second’s is two and the third’s three — but they’re all exactly TEN LETTERS long!

(Or a sign of mental illness in me for noticing/caring?)

Anyway, there’s some good shit here in advance of the release of their March 7th album Demon Dream Analyzer.

The A-sides will appear on the album, but the B-sides won’t. So are the B-sides worth it?

“Conception” bumps and twirls like an angry downhill snowboarder on the verge of losing his balance, Morrie gets a little Kyo-ey, and the chorus resolves into what’s becoming known as the “standard Dead End heavy chorus”: four measures of Morrie hitting high notes, his vocal lines closely following the guitar’s, with rests in between so that the instruments might assert themselves unburdened. It still works but I can see a day when it gets old.

The b-side is happier, bouncier, kinda surfy or driving-fasty-on-the-weekendy, paycheck in you pocket and friends awaiting your arrival at the bar.  Worth hearing! :)

~

“Final Feast” is a badass strut. Walking home on Brooklyn streets, it was impossible not to DEMAND the right of way from impatient drivers by stepping in front of their turning cars with this song playing in my head!

“Blackout” is a little Megadethy in a good way (fast single string riffs that inspire images of Dave Mustaine’s bouncing mane) and a little operatic in a bad way (falsetto vocals sprinkled liberally throughout). The individual parts in the bridge and pre-chorus don’t gel quite as well as you’d hope, like the guys never quite reached a consensus. Still cool tho. :)

~

“Yume Oni Uta”, with its spare and echoing acoustic guitar, puts you in a Kagrra mood, though the pacing is more like a Bubblegum crisis track til the halfway point, when we shift gears into a cockier sound, the guitar like Beyonce Z-snapping at you. 

“Jigoku no Kisetsu” must’ve been the bottom of the barrel for them, because it feels unfocused and blurry, little better than a so-so jam session, though there’s a nice (and all-too-quick) transition at the three-minute mark, right before the sloppy solo (at least the first half is sloppy — the second manages to find the pocket). Not quite a winner, this one. :/

But obviously you’re gonna get all three. ^_^ 

2 Notes/ Hide

  1. jrocknyc posted this