Albums

The Dead Weather - Horehound

Craig Broad 20/07/2009

Rating: 2/5

Super groups are a strange business. While they often offer a vast array of talent that has already 'made' it in a compact form, if you had to think of a super group that changed your life or you actually remotely enjoyed especially recently, who would you pick, Audioslave? Chickenfoot? No...I didn't think so either.

The Dead Weather comprise of Alison Mosshart (of The Kills), Jack White (obviously from White Stripes), Dean Fertita (from Queens Of The Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs) and Horehound is the fruits of their labour, their debut album, a slab of distorted blues rock.

The potential behind The Dead Weather is enough to bring Horehound down, especially when you have a musician as influential as Jack White in your band. Tracks like I Cut Like A Buffalo, a throwaway b-side-esque dirty reggae infused song that shouldn't make it on an independent artists album, let alone on an album full of seemingly hugely talented people litter Horehound from the start and it often feels like The Dead Weather are floating between not knowing what music style they are or knowing their roots too much and sticking to them too closely with several tracks sounding too similar to both White Stripes and Queens Of The Stone Age.

It isn't all a negative faire here though. When The Dead Weather pull themselves back from previous projects they create something great, So Far From Your Weapon being the standout track, its country blues showcasing the dirty yet soulful vocals of Mosshart for the first time. Rocking Horse continues on from this and you slowly feel like you are becoming part of either a Kill Bill movie or a western, I can't quite decide, either way, you can slowly feel yourself moulding into The Dead Weathers new found personality half way through the album. Sadly though, these are merely standout tracks and the rest of the album continues much in the same ilk as it started.

At their worst, The Dead Weather are a White Stripes/Queens Of The Stone Age b-sides band, Horehound doesn't show a lot of examples but when they do get it right, they create something different and well worth listening to. Lets ignore the names involved with this because in all honesty, if this was an independent band we'd all be ignoring the fuss and saying 'good...but not good enough'. Avoid unless you are an avid fan of the bands mentioned.

The Dead Weather Official Website