Label: Spitfire Music / Steamhammer / SPV Records
Release date: September 6, 2024
Production: Marti Frederiksen
Album length: 36.39 min
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 8.0/10
The Dead Daisies, the hard rock quintet brought to life in 2012 by Australian finance magnate David Lowy, are back this September with their seventh album already, which is an enviable feat given how short their run has been so far. Especially considering that over that same stretch the band has cycled through a whole garrison of outstanding musical talents who have played in the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, The Rolling Stones, Journey, Rob Zombie and The Cult, among others. No wonder the band often gets tagged a ‘super rock lineup’. We can toss Deep Purple and Black Sabbath in there too, since between 2019 and 2023 Glenn Hughes cut two albums with the band, taking over the bass and, of course, the vocal duties.
So Glenn has left The Dead Daisies, and vocalist John Corabi (ex-Mötley Crüe) is back in. You guessed it. With Corabi on board, The Dead Daisies return with the new album to the spirit of »Burn It Down« (2018), the last Dead Daisies record made with Corabi in the lineup before he left. The new bassist is Michael Devin, who, together with Douglas Aldrich, brings even more ex-Whitesnake DNA into the fold. One more detail: »Light ‘Em Up« was recorded without drummer Brian Tichy, and the band once again turned to Tommy Clufetos for drum duties. In short, lineup shuffles follow this band around constantly. Lowy and crew clearly wanted a change again, and Hughes didn’t lose a minute of sleep over it, since he’s perpetually up to his neck in work and prioritizes his solo career, with the occasional Black Country Communion maneuver not off the table either. That’s why »Light ‘Em Up« sounds noticeably different from everything The Dead Daisies recorded with Glenn before. Glenn is the kind of musical persona who, wherever he shows up and regardless of genre, brings a rock-solid artistic shake-up, and the albums »Radiance« (2022) and »Holy Ground« (2021) didn’t dodge that either, being largely ‘very Hughes albums’. Corabi is certainly not as dominant a figure as Glenn, in fact he doesn’t come up to his knees there, but his arrival is definitely welcome, because Lowy and crew are once again playing in an expressive format with a feeling of greater looseness, especially thanks to a more even spread of energy among the members of the new lineup, even though The Dead Daisies go from a four-piece back to a five-piece, which means Lowy has to pay one more employee. But that’s the least of Lowy’s problems. Charisma-wise, Aldrich is now by far the biggest magnet and the dominant figure. A guitarist who, in that respect, was only ever reined in by the legendary, one might even say omnipotent, Hughes.
On to the material. Honestly, nothing special that The Dead Daisies haven’t already shown us in the past. It’s a very short record that talks to you directly. The runtime is under 37 minutes, which is great. No ‘time robbery’ here. The band doesn’t beat around the bush and gets straight to the point, which means nine sharp wreckers and one excellent punchy ballad, Love That’ll Never Be. The opening stretch brings back the energy of the »Burn It Down« days. The opening title track has phrasing similar to Long Way to Go (»Make Some Noise«, 2016). A first-rate wrecker with a singalong chorus, and not only a great album opener but also a prime candidate for kicking off shows on the new tour. I Wanna Be Your Bitch is the kind of song The Dead Daisies could never have recorded with a musician like Glenn Hughes. For something like this you need a swaggering rascal like Corabi up front. This track shows exactly why Mötley Crüe scooped him up way back when, and it even flirts with punk rhetoric. Straight to the forehead! Then there’s I’m Gonna Ride, where the high-octane burning keeps riding the crest of a giant rock’n’roll wave, with Devin’s intense bass ‘digging’ taking on a contrasting role. I’m Gonna Ride is one of the biggest ‘igniters’ and grabs you on the album in an instant. The first half of the record charges ahead unbridled, pulling the best from the worlds of classic hard rock and glam metal, and, as mentioned, it also carries a pinch of punk rock garage-band attitude. This gallop of adrenaline-soaked rock’n’roll slaps just barrels along with no brakes.
The second half flirts a bit more with the classic rock of the seventies. Back To Zero pals around with semitone turns, peaking in a decidedly dark (almost ‘Sabbath-like’?) chorus, while Way Back Home owes its lead phrase to Led Zeppelin and their The Rover. Then comes a cunning swerve with a damn effective detour into a rock’n’roll rally rush with Take A Long Line, which is also the album’s most playful, cheeky track. My Way And The Highway pulls its verse harmonies venomously toward The Rolling Stones’ energy. The excellent ballad Love That’ll Never Be more than effectively shakes up the album’s dynamics before the tail end, while the closing Take My Soul carries a whiff of Delta blues rhetoric, and Aldrich, in his work on this one, once again reminds us loudly of his eternal fascination with Led Zeppelin. A bombastic finish to a thoroughly wrecking record that mostly speaks with primal rock’n’roll abandon, which is its greatest virtue. It hits, it captivates, it seduces. Instantly!
»Light ‘Em Up« serves up exactly what the guys were after and wanted! They delivered an album without a shred of overcomplication, freely letting raw rock energy lead and carry them in the studio! The brakes are completely off. »Light ‘Em Up« is an album that crawls right under your skin, internalizing the essential elements of rock and roll primal-ness so well! So the band isn’t reaching for anything new here. That wasn’t even the point of the album. Energy-wise, the new record goes back to the days of the band’s third and fourth albums and, in an in-your-face run of ten rock’n’roll slaps, offers a fresh cannonade of ruthless, high-octane audacity.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Light ‘Em Up
2. Times Are Changing
3. I Wanna Be Your Bitch
4. I’m Gonna Ride
5. Back To Zero
6. Way Back Home
7. Take A Long Line
8. My Way And The Highway
9. Love That’ll Never Be
10. Take My Soul
Lineup:
John Corabi – vocals, acoustic guitar
Douglas Aldrich – guitar, backing vocals
David Lowy – guitar
Michael Devin – bass, backing vocals
Tommy Clufetos – drums
