Title Album Souls and Bones
Name Of Band/Artist DeadMen
Released date and year 2024
Record Label self released
Reviewed 08/24
The Deadmen are from Helsinki in Finland. Home of a thriving underground psycho scene.
This 6 track debut is a good mixture of influences and styles and so if you’re looking for a full on slap fest you’ll be pleased with only a couple of tracks. (Nut of Bone and Psycho!)
Musically it has many influences ranging from old school Psychobilly to moody country/ blues. Lots of good use of atmosphere and way out western themes.
Track by track Review
1. Nut of Bone
A great riff driven opener that showcases the band well.
The ‘woody’ bass sound compliments the usual psycho twang guitar well and the drummer keeps the track pounding through
2. Deadman
A eerie tale of dead men from the story board of a 60’s spaghetti western. Slow and moody
Nice acoustic guitar and military snare drumming opens the track as the vocals tell a tale of a decomposing corpse in the western sun.
For those video game lovers think Red Dead Redemption!
3. Devil’s Shoes
A walking blues acoustic guitar track mutates into a harder rock themed track. Heavy riffing and spoken vocals trudge the blood through the house as the cops put the crime scene tape up.
Nice little musical break / instrumental raises this track before slamming your face back into the metal.
4. Psycho!
Great slapping bass start as we of Psycho!
But , hey what’s this? The body is far more akin to the House martins ‘happy hour’ with a hard edged ‘Psycho!’ Chorus.
Good mixture and dynamics make this a good track
5. Another dead soul
Another dead soul has that late night Vegas desert drive vibe to it to begin with but it has other elements to it.
Its a track of thirds , firstly it vegas drive time, then a hard psycho and finally a more free slowly ‘rock’ third with some nifty bass playing.
I think it’s the best track of the six.
6. Killing Everybody
This final track is a track where the singer declares he is going to kill everybody here. Lucky this reviewer isn’t in Helsinki!!
Musically it is a eerie lament in the Tom Waits and Bad Seeds mode and ends this short album in good style.
Summary
The six tracks give the listener a good idea of what this band is all about. Innovation over full throttle slapping and a great sense of the theatrical.
I hope that they develop their style further as they are different and sure to find a growing audience outside of Finland.
Recommendation
I would recommend this mini album to anyone who likes new and more experimental psycho music. It’s a dark story full of ‘deadmen’ and moody atmospheres.
NB: when searching Dodmen be careful as there is another band of the same name who dabble in a bit of mystic space rock and dub.
Links to Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, you tube, web page)
Reviewed By Ed Razor
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