Album Review: The Dead Weather - Dodge And Burn

The career of Jack White has grown exponentially in the years since The White Stripes 1999 self-titled debut album, but has his sound experienced the same growth? His relatively "new" band The Dead Weather finds Jack behind the drum kit, but the song remains somewhat the same.

Guttural, Detroit garage-rock with very little concession to the current pop music landscape.

Dodge And Burn is the brand new third album from the band featuring the throaty, tough-chick lead singer Alison Mosshart (of The Kills), guitarist Dean Fertita (of Queens Of The Stone Age) and bassist Jack Lawrence.

If you are looking for a huge sea change of sound for the band, you won't find it here.

Instead of progressing from 2010's excellent Sea Of Cowards album, the band has instead trimmed the fat on their sound making Dodge And Burn a hard-hitting spartan piece of bluesy rock.

Opener "I Feel Love (Every MIllion Miles)" immediately pummels the listener with a Zeppelin-esque riff and White's steady but drunk-sounding beat. Mosshart sounds like a sludge-rock queen, not very much removed from the early 90's Riot Grrrl movement of bands like Bikini Kill, L7 and Bratmobile.

Something quite noticeable is the fact that Alison has somehow absorbed the vocal quirks of Mr. White.

The cool thing about this band is that every inch of tape is touched by Jack White's steady hand. The Stooges-meets-Page guitar lines, especially the solos, sound mostly like Jack's work, even if he is the drummer of the band. A Jack White guitar solo is something so easily detected simply by the crunchy, vintage amp feel of the recordings.

Album highlight "Open Up" finds the band absolutely crushing on a riff straight out of The White Stripes high water mark Elephant, even echoing it's biggest radio hit "Seven Nation Army." "Be Still" creates a haunting effect by having Alison and Jack sharing vocal duties for a truly warped-sounding chorus. Closer "Impossible Winner" is the only dud on here sounding too much like a generic rock ballad.

The good stuff here certainly outweighs this one miss-step.

So while Dodge And Burn doesn't offer much new to the fan base of Jack White, it is still an intriguing listen. At times it can feel like a Jack White solo album white a guest lead singer, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, being that Jack White is one of the most accomplished rockers of the past 15 years.

His accomplishments are not only musical but also huge to the business side of music.

Helping bring back the interest in "vintage" from special vinyl pressings, encouraging a return to analog and creating his own studio/record label Third Man, White has breathed life back into an industry that was all but dead a few years ago.

For that Jack and The Dead Weather certainly should be commended and it will be exciting to hear where they take it next.

For more on The Dead Weather: http://thedeadweather.com