Review: Get Dead – “Dancing With The Curse”

Fat Wreck Chords – 09 Oct 2020

Experimental anarchist punks return at just the right time

San Francisco’s Get Dead release their first album in 4 years and it feels like the perfect period for them to return with their political commentary in terms of where we are all at. Be you in the US, UK, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa etc. the world is pretty fucked right now and what I have been hoping for is the right punk album to sum it up. Does Dancing With The Curse achieve this? Let us see…

I haven’t ever really given Get Dead the attention I would like, so was really happy to take this review on and revisit earlier releases too. What is most obvious is that this album is a progression and is both in keeping with earlier work as well as a depature to something more experimental. It sounds contradictory, but it makes perfect sense to me

I find listening to this release akin to listening to a label sampler from back in the day. There are many different styles, and I would sometimes wonder if my laptop has skipped onto another band’s album. This I feel is a massive positive and is hopefully taken as a compliment. I can often get bored of 12 tracks of very similar music, I can see that you just don’t get that with Get Dead.

I hear Gas Huffer, Capdown, Rancid and Leftover Crack producing a more credible version of Transplants at times and then I will hear some old school Against Me!. On first listen I was taken, but not convinced, but by the time the second play was through, I ordered the vinyl even though I have a promo copy for free.

“Pepperspray” is a clear stand out, anthemic anti police banger. “Confrontation” and “Fire Sale” are 2 other tracks that grabbed my attention, but I would suggest that you enjoy the album as it has been written and produced instead of just hitting the ones that I got into the most.

I like that you can hear that they have tried something new in terms of production, almost taking a hip hop approach in layering at times. They have managed to maintain a level of anarchy that needed a shit time for Get Dead to provide a soundtrack. At that, they have been successful.