Self-released – 21 Aug 2020
Catchy and technical, an album with a lot under the hood
Energy. That's the first thing that pops into my mind when I listen to the new record by Dummy Head Torpedo. With eleven tracks, the band (with an… interesting… name) delivers a solid release that promises a good live show, if those will ever return.
Dead Set On Malevolence opens with a melancholic trumpet tone before kicking into full force with a pounding drum beat and the gravel-like voice of vocalist/guitarist Travis O'Malley. The band manages to combine everything they have to offer in these first four minutes. It's punk. It's folk. It's bluegrass. It's probably a lot of things. But in the end, it's a party.
The band keeps up the energy in the first half of the record, often alternating between catchy shouted melodies and complex rhythms and riffs. The song “Bad Blood in the River” is really a prime example of this.
The album lets us catch a breath with the sea shanty-style “Champagne Diamond City” before turning everything up to eleven again. It's the second half of the album where we find “Fell Of the Rhythm,” easily the best song on the record. It's a beautifully constructed song, with a great melody and again driven with great drumming from Arick Franke.
Dummy Head Torpedo has a lot going for them: their songs are amazing and the album is very well produced. This is one of those records that make me really miss live shows even more. I want to sing, drink and dance to this band on a festival in the summer. There's always next year.
Quirijn's primary focus for TGEFM is on album reviews and band interviews. When he's not writing for the site, he can be found mixing sound at Fiction Studio, mixing up beats for as one part of hip-hop duo Breekpunt, or playing guitar for punk quartet Ink Bomb.