I think it is safe to say that the whole rock genre knows what it is all about these days. I mean, so good has it been since its earliest days, that it has only ever required slight alterations and evolutions to turn it into a whole new scene. And so, whilst skinny-jeaned, fashion-conscious kids with complicated hair might go looking for the next fad or fashion to follow, the next zeitgeist to surf, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that the heavy lifting has already been done.
Dead Original, are aware of this fact, and so, knowing that it is as much to the past that they need to look for reference points and inspiration, as it is the future, they forge music that is both fresh yet familiar. Bought and Sold, the band’s debut album looks to classic rock flair and grungey grooves, the underground sound of the early days of what became known as alternative rock and a whole bunch of their own signature sounds and musical moves. And the result is glorious.
Bored Again couples the right amount of brooding riffs with explosive guitar crescendoes, Blasted feels like the bastard son of then and now, with a whole lot of “where next?” thrown in for good measure and My Friends is both blistering and melodic.
Bought and Sold sits at a perfect sonic crossroads. In one direction the past, the other the future. To the right is the road to creativity, to the left that of melodic comfort zones. And within it all they create a great album, a mix of all the things you want blending with all the things you need, especially the things that you didn’t actually realise that you needed until you dropped the virtual needle.
Rock music does evolve, but it does so slowly, assuredly and on its own terms. Bought and Sold is the sound of that process playing out perfectly.
