Calling All Cars - Dancing With A Dead Man (04/08/2011)
Chances are you have seen Calling All
Cars at least once in the past two years. The
Melbourne trio have supported everybody from Shihad to Biffy Clyro, Queens of the
Stone Age and the legendary AC/DC, who handpicked the band themselves to support them on their 2010
stadium tour of Australia. When not touring with music legends, the Calling All Cars
were busy working on their studio tans and releasing two albums in the space of
one year. Dancing With A Dead Man is the latter
of the two.
The bands debut Hold, Hold, Fire was one of my personal favourite albums of 2010. Unlike a lot of rock bands debut releases, Calling All Cars didn’t try to be something they weren’t, they released an album with a sound that was uniquely structured and written and recorded with a ferocious honesty and dedication to rock n’ roll.
There is no doubt in my mind that Queens of the Stone Age have influenced the second release from Calling All Cars, judging by the way vocalist Haydn Ing projects his voice in opening track Redline and No Sleep. Lead single Reptile is a vicious and unprecedented song on the album. Like a cobra, it strikes multiple times with its killer hooks and unparalleled drumming from James Ing.
Title track Dancing With A Dead Man is somewhat experimental territory for Calling All Cars. The tempo is slow, with Haydn Ing channeling his inner Josh Homme throughout the track. It’s a grim track that really lays down the foundations of the album with its moody and haunting style. Bassist Adam Montgomery truly shines on Worlds Collide, a song that has potential to become a single release from the album.
Calling All Cars are renowned for their incredible live shows, so it should be interesting to see how this new material translates into the live show now that the new material has been released to the public. In particular, I’ll be interested to hear The Desert Sun performed live. It’s a searing and elevated track that once again shows the bands more melodic side without losing their trademark rough edges, much like a track featured later in the album Fireworks In A Hurricane.
As the album draws to its close, Throw Me To The Wolves provides an intense buildup to what I consider to be the highlight of this album, Wait For War. In a surprise move, the latter half of Wait For War is void of any vocals, relying completely on instrumentals and feedback fuzz to create a sense of closure and tribute to the past year of their life as a band.
Despite a short time between drinks, the sophomore release, Dancing With A Dead Man, takes everything that was great about Hold, Hold, Fire and magnifies it x100. There is absolutely no evidence of poor or rushed production on this record, rather it shows a more mature and concise side to the Melbourne trio’s talents that never fails to impress.
Luke Sutton
The bands debut Hold, Hold, Fire was one of my personal favourite albums of 2010. Unlike a lot of rock bands debut releases, Calling All Cars didn’t try to be something they weren’t, they released an album with a sound that was uniquely structured and written and recorded with a ferocious honesty and dedication to rock n’ roll.
There is no doubt in my mind that Queens of the Stone Age have influenced the second release from Calling All Cars, judging by the way vocalist Haydn Ing projects his voice in opening track Redline and No Sleep. Lead single Reptile is a vicious and unprecedented song on the album. Like a cobra, it strikes multiple times with its killer hooks and unparalleled drumming from James Ing.
Title track Dancing With A Dead Man is somewhat experimental territory for Calling All Cars. The tempo is slow, with Haydn Ing channeling his inner Josh Homme throughout the track. It’s a grim track that really lays down the foundations of the album with its moody and haunting style. Bassist Adam Montgomery truly shines on Worlds Collide, a song that has potential to become a single release from the album.
Calling All Cars are renowned for their incredible live shows, so it should be interesting to see how this new material translates into the live show now that the new material has been released to the public. In particular, I’ll be interested to hear The Desert Sun performed live. It’s a searing and elevated track that once again shows the bands more melodic side without losing their trademark rough edges, much like a track featured later in the album Fireworks In A Hurricane.
As the album draws to its close, Throw Me To The Wolves provides an intense buildup to what I consider to be the highlight of this album, Wait For War. In a surprise move, the latter half of Wait For War is void of any vocals, relying completely on instrumentals and feedback fuzz to create a sense of closure and tribute to the past year of their life as a band.
Despite a short time between drinks, the sophomore release, Dancing With A Dead Man, takes everything that was great about Hold, Hold, Fire and magnifies it x100. There is absolutely no evidence of poor or rushed production on this record, rather it shows a more mature and concise side to the Melbourne trio’s talents that never fails to impress.
Luke Sutton