The Kills. Queens of the Stone Age. The Greenhornes. The Raconteurs.
The White Stripes. Members of these decibel-heavy groups constitute the
Dead Weather, who have just released a sludgy, nasty and—not
shockingly—loud album of excellent blues-rock.
Although the Dead Weather’s focuses are Jack White and Alison
Mosshart, Horehound stabilizes itself on impressive performances
by Dean Fertita, playing inborn blues organ riffs and fiery guitar
licks, and Jack Lawrence, using fuzz and distortion to cajole his bass
into serious action. Mosshart is the de facto vocalist for the band,
and her thunder-charged howl and smoky come-ons give the album a rugged
ambiance; meanwhile, White trolls around playing cacophonous drums and
guitar, wailing when the mood strikes.
Opening with Mosshart’s strutting “60 Feet Tall,” which balances
quiet blues reveries with eruptive bursts of noise, Horehound establishes its theme of twisted and raw male-female relations. The
Mosshart-fronted “Hang You From the Heavens” is all clawing, distorted
blues counterpointed by White’s “I Cut Like a Buffalo,” a bumping,
organ-drunk rebuttal.
Once again, White’s rushed production is a mixed bag. The hasty
recording gives the album a fractured feel, resulting in the
instrumental meandering of “3 Birds” and generic blues riffing of “So
Far From Your Weapon.” Still, when the band fires successfully on all
cylinders, it’s thrilling. “Treat Me Like Your Mother” thrashes about
wildly, while “Rocking Horse” is a crunching blues-noir number.
The last voice on neither the blues nor male-female relations,
Horehound is still vicious fun.
This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2009.