Horehound (Third Man/Warner Bros.)

The Dead Weather’s second album is a strange affair. 

On the one hand, there is Jack White’s Midas touch, alongside the knowledge that there will be at least a few brilliant tracks present. On the other hand, debut album Horehound seemed nothing more than an exercise in excellence, with Mr.White flexing his musical muscles. The tracks were consistently good, but there were no surprises, nothing really different to anything else Jack White could produce. In short, it was a bit boring.

Sea of Cowards then, starts off no different to Horehound – album opener ‘Blue Blood Blues’ is soulful and accomplished, but nothing you haven’t heard before. Sadly there is much more Alison Mosshart on this album than necessary. Her gimmicky shout taints tracks, ‘I’m Mad’ and ‘Die By The Drop’, which would otherwise be solid slices of blues rock. ‘Gasoline’ is the only track that really catches your attention, with its old time organs and dark atmosphere; even then Mosshart’s superfluous wail is present.

All in all, there is no real difference between Horehound and Sea of Cowards – ‘Looking At the Invisible Man’ and ‘Cut Like A Buffalo’ are almost interchangeable. Album closer ‘Old Mary’ tries to pick up the pace a little, but to no avail. A musically expert, but nonetheless forgettable, album. 

(5)

Related posts:

1. One Foo in the Grave? Does a ‘Greatest Hits’ mean the end for a band that has been around for 14 years? It was to my surprise when I saw...
2. Strange Boys Be Brave, Rough Trade Strange Boys are peculiar lads. As a group of hip young men hailing from Austin, Texas, their sound is an almost...
3. Anberlin New Surrender (Universal Republic)First listening to New Surrender’s opening track “The Resistance’ one thought echoes in the cranium: another band jumping onto the “emotional rock’...
4. Punk is dead, and we have killed it The Punk Society is an oxymoron, the musicians have sold out, and the very fabric of the genre has b“All The Young Punks’ is the...
5. NME Awards Tour Academy 07/02/10 Roll up roll up! Britain’s finest purveyors of commercial indie bring their circus of sweat to the O2 Academy on Sunday night, delighting...