Review Summary: Ah yes, the ole post punk revival bait and switch.
From the opening licks of “Huzzah and Hurrah”, it’s immediately evident where
Three Creeps' influence lies. The glory days of garage punk and noise rock pair with a danceable feel to let you know that the band isn’t ashamed that they’re here to have a good time. By the time the bell-laden “Get the Hell off the Beach” begins ringing in your ears, you’ll likely be won over by their charming onslaught.
Dead Meat is a collection of jangly guitars, reverb-soaked vocals, and snare drum fills that rarely carry the same tone twice. Any fan of the noisier side of post punk is going to find themselves right at home as Big Mack Kernan proudly yells in an ear piercing treble assault, “I’m gonna die when I’m twenty-five! Don’t ever feel like bein’ alive!”
For all of the effort put into the abrasive feel that it does accomplish, it’s an impressive note that the album is naturally catchy. Even the brilliantly self-aware “Mega-Jangle” that puts all of the band’s characteristics on an exaggerated pedestal, to the point of being near self-parody, will begin to seep its melodies into your mind with repeated listens. The following track, “I believe in Jim Jones”, has a bridge that melts away the band’s wall of noise for a disgustingly catchy dadada dadada dadadadadadada sing-a-long. An even more impressive self-awareness manifesto can be found in the lyrics of the song: “knock it back because it’s time to prove/the kool-aid Satan acid groove/cyanide, with the sugar to boot/know it kicks so hard/but it feels so smooth." This passage perfectly swirls the band’s cryptic and abrasive, yet welcoming and accessible approach.
On the first few listens, it’s easy to not give Three Creeps full credit for their originality because at times their music can feel derivative, but with repeated listens and time, the songs begin to reveal how much fresh air
Dead Meat pumps into the post punk revival scene. So even if it isn’t exactly responsible for resurrecting the genre these two years later, it deserves to be recognized for successfully occupying a place in time with inventive ideas albeit through an aged genre.
