South Of Salem
Death Of The Party – Spider Party Records
If you believe in genres then there’s a little bit of the music spectrum that often falls under the category ‘tainter’. It ain’t quite this and it ain’t quite that. In the case of South Of Salem’s new opus ‘Death Of The Party’ the songs are a little bit rock and a little bit metal, happily they are though all epic! The main strength here is the writing which is frankly some way better than what we’re getting from a lot of the more illustrious acts around right now. Everything just flows like a river of silk. It’s easy to overlook the importance of doing the basics well and understanding what makes good music exactly that. Here South Of Salem flex their creative muscles with a mature record that pushes far enough while making sure they don’t go completely off piste. The rhythm section shines in an understated rock solid way. The guitars never try to swamp things. There are lovely flourishes but it never gets over indulgent. And then we have the vocals. Joey Draper sounds like he’s performing effortlessly. You can hear every word he’s singing even when he throws in his trademark rasping fry. If ‘Death Of The Party’ had been released by a big US band (we’ll leave it to your imagination who) it would be lauded as a great work by all and sundry. That it comes from an underground UK act releasing it on their own label makes it if anything even better. This is ballsy hard rock with a metal twist and immense groove, it’s a classic in the making.
Review by Gary Trueman