Dead Poetic- New Medicines
Band:
Josh Shellabarger- Drums
Zach Miles- Guitar
Brandon Rike- Vocals
Todd Osborn- Guitar
Chad Shellabarger- Bass
After the release of Four Wall Blackmail in 2002, Dead Poetic have evolved their sound and released their second album New Medicines. Dead Poetic are very proud of their work on New Medicines and say that it reflects a more mature sound than the first record.
Tracks:
1. Taste the Red Hands: 3.5/5
This track a hard-hitting intro to the album that starts out hard and doesn't slow down. There is some neat guitar work in this song and switching from screaming to singing and vice versa. However, I find this track only to be a decent intro because while it has some energy it's not particularly catchy.
2. The Dream Club Murders: 5/5
This track starts out with heavy guitars and then moves on to more melodic singing than the first track. The chorus is pretty catchy and after the first chorus there is a really cool little guitar solo thing. The bridge after the second chorus is just an amazing screaming/singing trade-off part and is well-fitting for the song. The end slows it down really smoothly, concluding an awesome song.
3. New Medicines: 4.5/5
The title track is another hard-hitting song that doesn't slow down very much, similar to the first track. However, this track has much catchier guitar riffs and vocals. The guitar riff in the bridge is particularly cool. The screaming of "all over again" in the outro is a great way to end it. My only complaint of this song is that I've heard it a little too many times so it's getting a little repetitive, but it's a really well-done song.
4. Vanus Empty: 4/5
This track is another well-done track that kinda has a relaxed/chilled feel to it even though it also has heavy guitars and such. The vocals are done really well too, but my only complaint is that the part "so vanity's got this new gun she wants to try on you" gets a little repetitive.
5. Bury the Difference: 3.5/5
This is the one of the least appealing tracks to me on the album even though it's still pretty decent. The best part is the guitar during the bridge.
6. Molotov: 4.5/5
This track is another well-done song. The guitar octave chords in the chorus along with melodic singing really stands out. The bridge smoothly slows the song down with well-done vocals. Also, the outro has some really good screaming/singing trade-offs and ends the song with a nice feel by the line "so light it up and let it fly away".
7. Glass in the Trees: 5/5
This is probably my favourite track on the album. This song is about a close friend of the band who died in a car crash. It really captures the emotion in losing someone and regretting not treating them better than you could have. The breakdown in the end has particularly amazing lyrics and is sung and screamed with a great amount of emotion... gives me goosebumps every time.
8. Dimmer Light: 5/5
This is just a really addictive song that I can listen to over and over. It's a slower song on this record with really good lyrics and vocals. The chorus "How do I get back to where I was when you were smiling?" is really addictive. Very well flowing song.
9. Hostages: 4/5
Really catchy intro guitar riffs in this song and once again, well done vocals. Solid drums and bass as usual. I really like the verses but the chorus isn't as catchy although still good.
10. Modern Morbid Prophecies: 5/5
This is another stand-out track on the album. The line at the end of the chorus "...and we're just heroes for the day" really gets me. Also the bridge "They all won't love me, she won't let me forget..." always gets stuck in my head. Guitar work is amazing once again. The outro is another addictive screaming/singing trade-off part that fits the song well.
11. A Hoax to Live For: 4.5/5
Another hard-hitting awesome song likely about the US and the war and such. I find the line "This isn't war, but these are still battles" along with cool lead-guitar parts to be really catchy.
Overall: 4.5/5
New Medicines is filled with heavy guitar riffs (and some softer stuff), fitting drums and extremely well-done vocals- both singing and screaming. This is not a really hardcore screaming album- in fact there is not much screaming, but the parts where there is screaming are the only parts that screaming would probably fit. I give this album a 4.5/5 because there are some stand-out amazing tracks that deserve a 5/5 but there are also some tracks that are only decent compared to the stand-out tracks. Overall, however, the album flows really well from song to song. I highly recommend this album who likes anything hard rock.
