Sea of Cowards
arrived less than a year after
the Dead Weather
's debut,
Horehound
, an album that sounded like a bootleg of a 3 a.m. jam session -- not a surprise, really, considering that the idea for the band came out of impromptu playing at
Jack White
's house. It's also unsurprising that
evolved quickly, given that the group went from releasing
to touring to recording again almost nonstop.
isn't a radical change from
's smoky, sludgy sound -- if anything,
White
,
Alison Mosshart
Dean Fertita
, and
Jack Lawrence
go even deeper into their classic rock and blues fetishes -- but it feels more organic, the product of a band instead of four separate personalities. A quick glance at the album's liner notes shows they wrote these songs in almost every conceivable combination, yet
sounds more cohesive: dense and charged like the air just before a rainstorm, replete with fat basslines and heavy organ solos equally inspired by '70s album rock and silent movie scores. Most of
's loose ends have been trimmed, but
still has plenty of weird moments. Witness the lunging lead single and album opener
"Blue Blood Blues,"
which shows just how much more solid and dynamic
became since their debut -- and also features breathy backing vocals that are more than a little creepy.
also fulfills
's promise of letting
Mosshart
be the band's frontwoman. She carries many of these songs, adding spark and shade to their monochromatic tones.
"The Difference Between Us"
is a particularly bright spotlight for her, showcasing her intense vocals as the band's blues-rock takes on a dark, sci-fi pop edge thanks to an eerie keyboard riff. Her interplay with
is also more intuitive and exciting: on
"Hustle and Cuss,"
they switch between singing lead and harmony, with
taking a high part and
the commanding low; on the trippy blues-metal workout
"I'm Mad,"
their voices are almost interchangeable, suggesting they could be brother and sister. Like
, most of
' songs grapple with the yin-yang of love and hate, with
"Die by the Drop"
and
"Gasoline"
yielding some of the most potent results. The album's deviations from
's signature sound are also more distinct than they were on
, but
' weirdest track is all
's:
"Old Mary,"
a psychedelic dirge that plays on the verses of the Catholic prayer "Hail Mary," closes the album on a unique, if unsettling, note.
is often cryptic and almost always unrepentantly old-fashioned, its A-side featuring most of the singles and its B-side playing like one long jam.
and company make almost no concessions to their audience, and fewer songs stand out here than they did on
. And yet, this is a more satisfying album overall. Fortunately,
' mysteries are more intriguing than frustrating. ~ Heather Phares