We Three & The Death Rattle – Entrances And Exits
(Paw//Purr Records)
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| We Three & The Death Rattle - Entrances & Exits |
Release Date: 15th September 2017
I’ve been following and covering
We Three & The Death Rattle for a while now through a series of uproarious
singles and a burgeoning reputation for incendiary live shows, or so I hear. As
with so many of bands that come my way, the real test is whether they can turn
the promise of a handful of great songs in to an album that delivers on that
potential and ‘Entrances And Exits’ is where we find out the truth about this
trio. Opening up with ‘I See Static’, WTATDR are off to a flyer with rumbling,
tribal drums, a slinky little guitar riff and the seductive, Pussy Galore
vocals of frontwoman Amy Cooper. Next up is ‘Stray Rounds’ and the band have
already hit their stride, mixing the attitude of the Dead Weather with the
angular songwriting of Kate Nash which is hard to pull off – but they do.
There’s a gloriously dirty,
Grinderman-esque vibe to ‘Ex Lawman’ and again those drums are in full effect
with the combined force of Royal Blood and Sleigh Bells. Now, I’m fully aware
that I’m making a lot of comparisons already which is not something I’d
normally do but I get the feeling that I’d have a great night with these three,
a couple of bottles of Jack and their record collection which they wear firmly
on their sleeves. ‘Black Lightning’s Daughters’ has the dirtiest, snarling
guitars a la the Black Keys while ‘I’m a Cell of One’ gets its swagger on while
Cooper sings unwaveringly, unblinkingly with a real sense of menace and
emotional detachment in her voice which is both terrifying and seductive.
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| WTATDR - N-Dubz with attitude |
The second half of the album (or side 2 if you’re lucky
enough to get this on vinyl) starts with ‘Supernatural Speed’ and those scuzzy
guitars are back, bringing a little Jon Spencer and Moriarty to the table this
time. ‘Crows’ slows things down a bit and moves in some organ to give things a
Tarantino vibe but it’s a necessary let-up from the wall to wall rock guitars
and Viking drumming. The keys are given the Manzarek treatment on ‘Kicksville
Girl’ as WTATDR go all Riot Girl on us while ‘Bomb Mars’ gets a strong,
road-trip groove going and Cooper’s distorted vocal slips in to fifth gear to
glorious effect. Recent single ‘(Hail Mary) Sister Six’ closes out the album
and it’s as sassy and snarling as it ever was. Now, I hope you’ve got the
impression that I enjoyed this album from the review, because I did. But, if I
had to mark this down for anything it’s that every track opens with a segment
of spoken word from a film (No Country for Old Men in one case, great choice).
This is a motif that I like from time to time but for every one of the 10 album
tracks to start this way gets a little annoying (largely because I had to try
googling most of these to get the references). That shouldn’t take away from
the music though, that’s the main thing here and it’s an awesome (un)natural
force to be reckoned with so, y’know, get reckoning.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/wethreeandthedeathrattle/
Live Dates:
9th September – Album Launch @ The Cookie,
Leicester