The Deadly

After a debut (Phantoms In The Frequency, Hawthorne St. Records) that showed tons of potential and hinted at the glory of future endeavours, Philadelphia, PA "danger rock” marauders the Deadly return with a sophomore record that wastes what has come before and stabs the current prefab glut of over-marketed punk rock in the jugular. Featuring members of seminal metallic hardcore legends Turmoil (notably guitarist Jonathon Hodges and drummer Jonathan Pushik), The Wolves Are Here Again is a harder, more metallic-sounding, but just as catchy "go for broke” barrage of riff-driven, scream-laden aggression. While that metallic smack was absent from Phantoms’ catchy, spastic noise rock assault, on Wolves the metal quotient as been upped, with some songs so close to Turmoil’s songwriting structure and feel that if the riffs were more metallic-sounding, they could be lost Turmoil tracks. Of course, it’s still about "the rock,” and at times the Deadly recall an utterly heavier At the Drive-In, or Blood Brothers raised on a strict metallic hardcore diet. Elements of Lickgoldensky still shine through and at their most chaotic, Pg. 99 comparisons don’t seem absurd. But it’s the strained until breaking vocals of Rich Lippold that give the Deadly their sense of desperation. Too heavy to be rock or punk and too rock to be a hardcore or metal, danger rock will have to do for now. Genre elitists shouldn’t be dissuaded however, as the Deadly live up to their name.