Dead Letter Circus
This Is The Warning
(Warner Music Australia)
Three bands define Australian hard rock: Karnivool, The Butterfly Effect, and Cog. It's nigh on impossible to discuss Brisbane quartet Dead Letter Circus without referring to the current scene's pioneering figures. In the context of those bands, it's perfectly reasonable to wonder aloud: is DLC's debut full-length a contender to Karnivool's stellar 2005 debut, Themata? Does it stack up to The Butterfly Effect's first LP, Begins Here? Can it be favourably compared to Cog's The New Normal? The answers, respectively: it's not, it doesn't, and it can't. It's far from a trainwreck, but on the whole, it's consistently disappointing.
A bit of history: Dead Letter Circus released their debut EP in 2007. Its six tracks were treated by Forrester Savell, the go-to man for alternative rock production in Australia. DLC relentlessly toured the land for the next several years to celebrate occasional singles and EPs in the lead-up to This Is The Warning, their first release with Warner Bros. They've worked hard to cultivate a significant fanbase, who rewarded the band with a #2 debut on the ARIA charts. The two most prized elements of the band's sound are Rob Maric's guitar tone and Kim Benzie's vocals. Maric's unconventional approach favours using the six-string for percussion more often than melody, while Benzie's distinctive voice regularly leans toward a higher register. This striking pairing ensures that Dead Letter Circus sound like no-one ele, yet curiously, the ideas showcased here rarely realise the band's potential.
There's only one great track, 'Next In Line', which was released as a single in November 2008. Its success only amplifies the album's overall failings: on 'Next In Line', DLC's songwriting is driven and purposeful. Savell's production sees the track fade a little during the verses, and swell with percussive flourishes and maxed-out vocals during the chorus. At a touch over three minutes, this is what the band do well: pop songs dressed up in distorted guitars and pounding double-kick drums. Conversely, the album's many attempts at meaningful, emotive prog-rock continue to strike me as hokey and half-baked. 'Cage' feels trapped by the insistent, overbearing kick drum despite containing one of Benzie's best vocal hooks; the title track's introduction is characterised by tacky-sounding electronica overlaid with yawn-inducing spoken-word conspiracy theories, until the song erupts into the album's heaviest groove. Stewart Hill's bass snarls and Luke Williams hits the kit hard, but still I'm unconvinced.
More often than not, their performance feels like an act. It doesn't feel genuine. Time and again, I find myself questioning their motives and intent. These are not ideal questions to arise while listening to a hard rock band. Dead Letter Circus' first full-length shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the debut albums by Karnivool, The Butterfly Effect or Cog. In whole, it's just not good enough.
Andrew McMillen