Dope Body “Lifer” Album Review
review by Erik Ghint
I believe that record reviews are the collective response of the author’s objective opinion and taste on music in general, combined, however, with some undisputed facts. Dope Body is a noisy rock band from Baltimore, Maryland. I don’t think I am very “qualified” to review their work but then again every review has its own value. Their new record Lifer comes out on Drag City Records on October 21st of 2014.
Track List
Intro
Repo Man
Hired Gun
Echo
AOL
Rare Air
Day by Day
Toy
Nu Sensation
I’d Say to You
Even in the End
There are bands I love, bands I dislike and bands that are simply interesting to me. Dope Body fall into the latter category. The bands third full length “Lifer” is my introduction to them and things lean more towards a positive impression in the sense that I can list a number of things I like about the record and only a few (but important) things I personally find unattractive.
Things I like
The record has a two minute long instrumental intro which really sets the mood for most of the musical aesthetic of “Lifer”. Rapid drumming and beautifully aggressive guitar work, plus a ton of cool riffs and a lot of experimentation. There is a definite punkness to the music evident on the entire record and some of the song parts really hit you in the face.
I’ve never witnessed Dope Body play live but am sure the energy of their show is off the hook; it’s impossible to not feel it while listening to the record, so I can imagine what happens at the live performance.
Repo Man, Hired Gun, Day by Day and Toy are my stand out tracks of “Lifer”, AOL and I’d Say to You are the two stand out punk songs and I’m a sucker for punk songs, especially when considering a non punk record per se.
The production is as close to a natural sound as possible. I think I like that the most.
Things I don’t like
I enjoy my music having some kind of structure. I do not have a thing for chaos and losing my mind in the process of listening to a record. I like it when vocals in a song have either melody or aggressiveness. I love it when the singing makes sense. Even with my limited knowledge on anything that is not contemporary punk/hardcore I can say that only one Lux Interior will ever exist in the world.
That being said I enjoyed the intro very much and was ready to be blown away when the singing commenced. Instead I realized nine songs later that the singer of Dope Body has no clear thought of how his lyrics should be spat out in a song. This is intentional. The constant interchange between angry singing and the same kind of a blabbering singing style is terrifyingly unattractive to me. Either scream your guts out or find variable tone arrangements for your singing so that everything does not sound the same and you don’t come off as psychotic. I know it’s just me, but I simply cannot relate and vocals are super important.
I will skip commenting on the record cover.
“Lifer” is very interesting music wise, there are a ton of different things being experimented on, a variety of styles and rhythms being tried out. Had the vocals been in a steadily angry/hardcore style I would have been blown away. I can think of a lot of people who can enjoy this style of music though, so it makes total sense why Dope Body can be very “popular” within their terms in 2014. Think of a punkier, less garage influenced, very experimental and very contemporary The Cramps and you’ve probably got a winner.
About the Author
Erik Ghint Athens, Greece PWV role : Reviewer Erik was born and has always lived in Athens, Greece. Terrible place but good weather. Studied law and played music on the side, now is a part time lawyer and part time punk rocker. Split personalities are his thing. Still listens to punk rock after 20 years, loves discovering new bands and is nostalgic about punk rock of the nineties. Diss him about his reviews @ https://www.facebook.com/bandage.punkrock.3
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