Superdrag – John Davis, Brandon Fisher, Tom Pappas and Don Coffey, Knoxville’s perennial underdogs of power pop, have reformed after a 5 year breakup, and after what many thought was a troubled history with both the labels and thier own personal demons. And they sound pissed. In fact the opening raw punk rant “Slow to speak, slow to anger” is anything but. Like the band’s full-length debut Regretfully Yours, the bands energy level is high. Davis screams much of the hyperactive lyrics here, but on a few songs like “Live and Breathe”and “Try” we actually get a melody with the tube-amp distortion from the band’s dual guitar attack. “I Only Want A Place To Stay” is a welcome return to form as well, with rich textured guitar balancing out Davis. Unfortunately, the distortion on “Everything’ll Be Made Right” overtakes the vocals and “Cheap Poltergeists” puts bassist Tom Pappas out front for an Alice Cooper impersonation. “Ready To Go” recovers things, with a Replacements-like structure and great vocals with the lines “we’ve been waiting for so long.” And they sound like they mean it — it’s the best song on the album. The harder sound will sit well with fans of Sevendust and Taking Back Sunday, and turn off some fans of their earlier work like, Head Trip In Every Key. In some sense the band has left it’s melodic comfort zone for a “younger” demographic here and that’s okay, but for me it’s not as memorable or catchy. Still for Superdrag fans, there is enough talent on display here to listen to and appreciate this reunion.
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For what it’s worth, SXSW critics love the album — but for me the last great Superdrag album was the B-side collection “Changin’ Tires on the Road to Ruin”
That is too bad – I was so looking forward to this reunion effort.
glad to know…they’re back!!
– ledz –