MP3 REVIEW: The Dead Revolt "Vanixer" (http://thedeadrevolt.bandcamp.com/album/vanixer)

The Dead Revolt "Vanixer" (http://thedeadrevolt.bandcamp.com/album/vanixer)

                Vanixer is an interesting piece of music if only because it opens with a slow, soft instrumental song that I feel in no way dictates the pace for the rest of the album unless it is in a calm before the storm type of way.  

                When the music finally kicks in, we are treated to what becomes a rage of guitars, vocals, drums and bass.    It’s mostly fast paced and it has a quality that reminds me of something like At-the-Drive-In meets Led Zeppelin.     Though eight songs, these songs are quite lengthy, as “Half Plant/Half-Ghost” goes over twelve minutes. 

                I guess the biggest thing you see on this album is that some songs are rather long, while others are a more standard length, and it makes you wonder how that came to be.   The end of “Half-Plant/Half-Ghost” could easily be shifted into the next song, which is much shorter by comparison.    If you want to look at it in terms of food, it’s kind of like having a pie and instead of dividing the entire pie into twelve pieces of around equal size; they divided the pie into eight slices with some being four times the size of others.   So it makes me wonder why they don’t just divide the total length of the album up equally and have somewhat normal length of songs instead this uneven, non-traditional  set up they have here with the eight songs being the length of an LP.     

                At the end of the day, though, that doesn’t really matter.   You’re given a piece of music that you’re either going to love or hate and that stands no matter how they slice it.               Aside from the aforementioned bands, there are parts Portgual. The Man and Forgive Durden in here as well.   “Indigo Fashion Show” really reminds me of a song by Gatsbys American Dream.    Sometimes the erratic drums and schizophrenic guitars make me think of improv jazz, like the band is just taking you somewhere new and you’re not sure where it will be until you both get there.

                Look, there is a killer guitar solo in “Day of the Dead” and “Bombshell” just symbolizes what this band is all about—rock ‘n’ roll.    If you’re a fan of rock ‘n’ roll then this will definitely be for you.   If you’re glad that Led Zeppelin isn’t making music anymore, then you probably want to go out of your way to avoid this one.