Album Review: The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards

Can Jack White do no wrong? Whilst many of us dream of setting up one decent band, White is making more awesome music in yet another completely different creation. The Dead Weather is White’s third side project, alongside the brilliant The White Stripes, and excellent, The Raconteurs. The Nashville foursome joined forces last year after an impromptu jam at one of White’s studios, and very quickly released the impressive debut album Horehound.

Now, less than a year after the first album was released, comes The Dead Weather’s second album, Sea of Cowards. The title alone sets the tone for the rest of the album, it is gritty, disturbing and raw. The mayhem begins with the snarling ‘Blue Blood Blues’, with Jack taking lead vocals. It is a strong opening song which is reminiscent of ‘I Cut Like a Buffalo’ from Horehound. ‘Hustle and Cuss’ continues in a similar vein, with a very simple, but repetitive guitar simmering over White’s drumming.
The Kills’ Alison Mosshart takes the vocals for ‘The Difference Between Us’, which exemplifies everything that makes The Dead Weather so great. It is a crescendo of noise, with an electronic synth running throughout the song, yet Mosshart’s vocals, like White, draw you in before spitting you out.

‘I’m Mad’ is next, and Mosshart once again takes lead vocals on a song which is terrifying and brilliant in equal measure. As she screams “I’m Mad!” followed by a disturbing laugh, which echoes Phil Collins’ creepy little laugh in the Genesis song ‘Mama’, we are left wandering whether Mosshart is mentally stable. In fact, most of the Sea of Cowards sounds like it produced in an insane asylum. The first single from the album, ‘Die By The Drop’, is a raw and quite disturbing tune, with White yelling “I’m gonna take you for worse or better” over crunching guitars.

‘I Can’t Hear You’ is a slightly more sedate affair compared to the previous ear bashing, if anything on the album can be considered sedate. However, it is full of swagger and exuberance, sounding very much like a product of one of the jam sessions. ‘Gasoline’ is an excellent song, which could have a strong chance of being the next single. If you think there would be any let up in the haunting, gothic world of The Dead Weather, you would be wrong. Sea of Cowards continues to send shivers down the spine till the very last note of ‘Old Mary’. Jack White and Co. have seriously made a brilliant album here, which betters the first by quite a long way. When, if at all, there is a next Dead Weather album is unknown. However, whatever is next in Jack’s pipeline, it will have to go some way to beat this.

4/5