xReviewsx

Dead Poetic - New Medicines

The Album

The Packaging

Simple covers are becoming the new fad in hardcore and screamo today, and New Medicines is up to the task. If one is not familiar with the band and picks up the album in a store, one will be extremelly confused. The cover sports no band name, nor album name. Even the sidebar gives no clue. If you become curious enough to flip over to the back of the CD, you will find a neat looking design, a code bar, and technical jibber jabber. Nothing else. Yep, if you aren't a DP fan, you are going to be mighty confused. The only hint one would get is that the website is listed as Deadpoetic.com... but that could mean anything, right?
The Price

I got this from BMG as one of my 7 free CDs and I payed only the five dollars for shipping, so if you want some other CDs (They also have Relient K's MMHMM and Project 86's STBYBB) then that's definently the way to nab it. If you buy it in the store you're looking at a normal $17 dollars or so unless you're at a discount place. Unless you're a huge fan, I wouldn't reccomend snatching it at first glance.

The Music

When one hears "Dead Poetic", if you're not familiar with the band, it's going to make you feel uneasy. A skeleton with a pad and pencl will undoubtedly pop into your head the first few times. However, Dead Poetic isn't gothic, wiccan, agnostic, or whatever else you may think. And they're certainly not "of the devil". Unfortunantly, coupled with an album named "New Medicines", it's enough to drive a conservsative parent up a pole. This is why we're here to give insight into the real core of the band and their music. In 2002 the world had settled down a bit and things were getting back to their normal, corrupt ways. Enter Dead Poetic into the professional hardcore scene. The band's first album, Four Wall Blackmail was an instant hit with it's bloody assaults on the corporate world. Two years later, after extensive touring and growing a large fan-base, the boys of DP came back, this time with a less hardcore sound, but undeniably more mature. The result? An incredible, hot-selling album that most people like to call New Medicines...

The Music

This is what guitars were made for. Melody sprinkled with a raw sound, masterfully mixed, and musically near perfect. The drums, guitar, and bass add incredibly to the mood. In "Glass in the Trees" the listener is almost wrapped up in the emotion, feeling as though it is them the song is speaking of, as though the circumstances were their personal circumstances. If there's a perfect blend of beauty and pain, this is probably it. Kudos to the drummer in songs like "A Hoax to Live for" and "Tast the Red Hands", and the dual guitarists play insanely in "Hostages" and "Modern Morbid Prophecies", and the driving rythm in "Molotiv" is energizing. There's no doubt about it, Dead Poetic has musically matured.

The Vocals

Vocalist Brandon Rike's voice is pretty much indescribable to someone who's never heard it before. It's a very nice voice and his style of screaming is equally superb. It doesn't get old, redundant, or stale. However, if you're going to try and figure out the lyrics from listening, it's going to take some effort. Rike's voice adds to the mood, and is quite haunting in "Glass in the Trees". It will be interesting to see how his voice matures in the next album...

The Message

New Medicines? How could anybody think an album entitled "New Medicines" could be anything close to Christian? I mean, it's obviously a drug reference, right? Right? Wrong. I would call it sarcasim, but it's not quite that. If you look at the lyrics, the song is really just another stab at society. "I'm not in the business of faking to please vain opposers. A dead legion of new, cloned followers. You're cornered in a place you don't know. New medicines should ease this pain. They're the only ailment for it." With that out of the way, we'll get on with the review. Probably the song that is most interesting is the haunting "Glass in the Trees". To get a true perspective, we go straight to the source. Brandon Rike states, "The song is about a very, very close friend of ours who died in a car accident. The crash site was so horrible, the windshield was embedded into 2 trees. The song is about my relationship with him, and the regrets of choices I has made. Its a very personal song. I love the song because the music itself can express the feelings we had right after it happened." What about the spiritual aspect of the band? Well, for starters, inside the CD case, you can read that "Dead Poetic thanks God for loving us, and giving us the opportunity to do this...". A possible allusion is in "Dimmer Light". Rike sings "So there's that bright light, the one that leaded me here. The one that's screaming to be noticed. The one responsible for all of this. So I'll take this other road, after I get up from my knees. Because I'm sick of being lied to. And I'm afraid of where the other one leads." The lyrics could be interpreted as going down a path leading to sin and seeing that things are changing in his life for the worse, then asking God to lead him out. "Glass in the Trees" also sports the lines "And I'll deserve every bit. because I'm not spiritual yet. I'm just reading the lines they gave me from the pulpit." Although not all songs may have spiritual content, they certainly have strong morals. In "Vanus Empty", today's vanity is condemned. "Taste the Red Hands" brings down "Backstabbers and money whores, and dirty rotten millionares". Overall, the lyrics and message is quite decent and more mature than Four Wall Blackmail. Parents shouldn't be worried... even if it does bring to mind a skeleton with a pad and pencil...

Favorite Tracks

Although I personally enjoyed all the tracks, I would have to boil it down to three primary songs: Vanus Empty, Glass In the Trees, and Modern Morbid Prophecies.

Track Listing
1. Taste the Red Hands
2. The Dream Club Murders
3. New Medicines
4. Vanus Empty
5. Bury the Difference
6. Molotiv
7. Glass in the Trees
8. Dimmer Light
9. Hostages
10. Modern Morbid Prophecies
11. A Hoax to Live For

Listen For Free
Their Purevolume featuring Hostages, Modern Morbid Prophecies, and New Medicines
Their Myspace featuring Taste the Red Hands, Hostages, Modern Morbid Prophecies, and New Medicines
Official Dead Poetic site
The New Medicines music video

Why Would You Want to Buy It?

*If you are looking for a great screamo/hardcore listen
*If you want to check out a very unique band

To Sum It All Up

user posted image

Music: 10
Vocals: 10
Message: 7
Overall: 9

This is an absolutely spectacular listen, and it's by far not a cliche band. Although there's room for more spirituality in the lyrics, it's certainly decent and there's no bad message in it. The boys of DP have matured and outdone themselves. All I can say is that I'm looking forward to their next effort and in the meantime I'll be rocking out to New Medicines...