Remember Breathe? ‘Don’t Stop the Revolution.’ …Anybody? Alas, If only we’d kept dancing the past would not be the past. And if you’d like to know more about that I can only direct you to the bargain bins at Real Groovy. However, out of the ashes of the charred post-brit-pop folly that was Breathe comes something I like!

Dead End Beat’s debut effort is dark, gothic in places, and kicks the shit out my stereo with its rumbling contorted bass lines, pounding drums and menacing guitar. Opener ‘Everybody Wants To Love You’ thumps away with a kick pedal to the floor while eerie keyboard effects twist and curl like cigarette smoke over the song’s heavy guitars. ‘All My Riches,’ the next single, grooves with solid industrial rhythm before vocalist Andrew Tilby’s sweet ‘n’ sour, Bobby Gillespie-like voice, kicks in.

Without a drummer, Dead End Beat wrote the album with the help of a drum machine before Rikki Gooch of Trinity Roots recreated the drum parts in the studio. We’re subsequently left with the sound of an organic drum kit played in a mechanical fashion. This, coupled with Tilby’s vocals, reminds me of a less-electric Primal Scream (Exterminator-era) with a dose of early Shihad on songs like ‘Nervous Bag’ and the adrenaline fuelled ‘Tonight We Ride.’
While a perpetual sound is needed to unite each song, the only criticism I have is that this album tends to be slightly repetitive. Each song lingers at a constant level without exploring new landscapes or breaking out of the sonic mould that Dead End Beat have used to craft each song. Still, it’s an exciting local release and I imagine a band like this are in their element live. Fans of dark, pulsing, electric rock…I urge you to listen to this.