Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball

Dead Confederate
Wrecking Ball
2/5

Dead Confederate sound pretty much like a modern day stab at Nirvana. Before anybody gets too excited, that’s in terms of sound, not originality and impact.

Mixing grunge and a diluted sort of stoner rock, they end up somewhere that’s clearly going to be labelled alternative rock. That’s a shame too, because it feels like they were trying to sound original and fresh. Album opener, ‘Heavy Petting’, is the closest to achieving this. Slow vocals and guitar, mixed with up tempo drums, it sounds amazingly fresh, yet gives false promise for the rest of the album. What follows is a mostly samey forty-five minutes before the final track. Slow, overindulgent and dragged out, there’s really very little to distinguish one song from the next. Except for maybe ‘Start Me Laughing’, and even then, that’s only because the vocals are louder. However, when you get to the final track, ‘Wrecking Ball’, it’s another blast. Almost a song of two halves, the start is slow and moody whilst ending upbeat.

The only saving graces for this album are the first and last tracks. The filling’s awful. Listening is like a vegetarian eating a ham sandwich. Cut the middle out. Just eat the crusts.