Review: Dead Confederate - "Wrecking Ball"

By: Daniel Earney

With a name like Dead Confederate, you have to expect something at least somewhat Southern from this band. On their debut LP, Wrecking Ball, Dead Confederate take Southern rock, turn it on its head and cover it in thick, heavy mud. But that's a good thing.            

Previously named The Redbelly Band, kicking around the Augusta club scene, and playing a Phishy jamband style of rock, the guys of Dead Confederate graduated from college and decided it was time for a change. They moved to the big city (Atlanta), changed their name, and adopted an entirely new sound. The band is already drawing comparisons to Sonic Youth, Band of Horses, and (what really caught my eye) Nirvana. Sonic Youth, for both bands' use of highly distorted atmospheric noise, I can see; Band of Horses, not so much; and Nirvana, though I had to make sure Tulsa’s Carter Tanton didn’t have a side project, at times, and not too often, the vocals are spot-on Cobain.  If it weren’t for the sometimes weeping, sometimes screaming slide guitar, I’d place DC among Seattle’s elite.

I was scared at first that Dead Confederate would let me down: “Heavy Petting” starts abruptly and awkwardly enough with Hardy Morris belting out the song’s title, a pinch of Southern drawl showing through. Slow, soaring guitar permeates the first half of the track. Then the song erupts halfway through with an ominously fierce guitar solo mixing with Jason Scarboro’s heavily crashing drums. All the while, Hardy’s voice scratches and cracks in true Cobain fashion. Walker Howle’s guitar takes off a few more times before the song fades.

On the Album’s first single, “The Rat,” Morris continues the screechy wail as it becomes clear that the dark, war-torn lyrics are a common theme. Dead Confederate’s live performances, so far, have drawn positive reviews, and seeing the band perform “The Rat” on KEXP’s website made me, for the first time in a long time, intensely miss going to concerts.

At times Wrecking Ball can be slow, but the payoffs for being patient are immense. 2:50 into “It Was a Rose,” Howle’s slide is at once eloquent and overwhelming; later in the song, it’s simply insane.  “Yer Circus,” “All the Angels,” “The News Underneath,” and the 12-minute “Flesh Colored Canvas” showcase DC’s slower, more melodic and elegant capabilities, but are not without their powerful punctuations. “Start Me Laughing” is a pure gem worthy of Nirvana’s songbook. The album finishes out with the title track, in all its destructive glory. The album, however, is not without its flaws; you have to listen too closely to make out John Watkins’ keys (when they’re present), and Brantley Senn’s bass is often buried beneath drums and guitars.

Wrecking Ball begins with a furor nothing short of Sherman tear-assing his way through Georgia circa 1864. (Luckily Sherman wasn't a Confederate.) Yet, instead of glorifying war, Dead Confederate show us that war indeed is hell; it’s loud, it’s painful, and it’s sad. A man can toil endlessly only to find that he has brought about nothing but death and destruction – a wrecking ball. 8.7 out of 10.