DEAD END LANE: Domestically Dead: CD

Domestically Dead is the debut EP from female fronted punk band DEAD END LANE who have been around for a few years now and have opened for THE MISFITS, MARKY RAMONE, THE ADICTS, THE BUSINESS, THE CREEPSHOW and others and have a 1950s influence mixed into their brand of punk rock.

The first thing that struck me was how strong the vocals by Erin Demise are, so many female vocalists have either wispy, operatic, or overly poppy styles, while Demise just has a very firm, tough and strangely sweet sounding voice that was a treat to hear. Demise had a bit of a Siouxsie Sioux sound when she was singing softer on the album, but then that was gone when she would start to wail like on “Killing You” where Demise puts her powerful voice to great effect. The band is rounded off with The Salacious T on guitar and back-up vocals, Matt on bass and back-up vocals, and newest member Joe on drums. The band tears through these seven catchy songs so well that you don’t realize how fast it went by, so you have to throw it back on again, but that’s the secret, you get into it so deeply that it makes you lose track of time and then you have to put it on and then they have you in their grasp. In the first song “Natural Born Sinners” you can hear the 1950s countryish twang mixed in with the punk and it works really well together. The second song “Black Widow” is a fast and furious punk song where you can hear the band just pummeling the hell out of the song, fantastic, and the song “Memories” is a slow song that has the feel of a CONCRETE BLONDE song, but has that nice punk edge to veer away from being a copy. DEAD END LANE really got good production on this album, clear, yet gritty sound that made it feel authentic, not prefabricated and sterile. The guitar work is crunchy and tight, the bass really gives it a nice rounded sound, and the drums are straight forward kick ass.

A very cool EP from a band that I’m glad to have found out about, now I hope to see them live sometime so I can witness the intensity first-hand.

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