By Allyson Kingsley
You kind of know what people may think when you see the members of a band, of which many are, in and of themselves, legendary…supergroup. Perhaps that does indeed hold true for some bands but for few others such as The Dead Daisies, they stand on their own. And they will eventually be legends.
Formed in 2012 by David Lowy (Red Phoenix/Mink), past members have included John Corabi, Marco Mendoza, Dizzy Reed, John Tempesta, Tommy Clufetos, and Slash among others. The current lineup for this latest album Holy Ground is vocalist Glenn Hughes (Trapeze, Deep Purple, Black Country Communion), Doug Aldrich (Whitespace, Dio, Burning Rain, House of Lords), and Deen Castronovo (Journey, Revolution Saints, Bad English). If you are worth your salt in the hard rock community, you know this is quite a phenomenal menu of veteran artists. If you dig the influences of the 70s and 80s hard rock giants and add a good dose of blues and some southern rock appeal, The Dead Daisies will immediately grip you.
Holy Land‘s sounds are full, bombastic, textured, and emotive. It’s very different from the Corabi/Mendoza era of the band. Glenn Hughes absolutely commands the spotlight and it feels as though The Dead Daisies were built around him. Holy Land is groovier than their previous outputs. There is brilliant energy captured on the entire album and it is infused with an intense blues feel. The deep heaviness and insane catchiness of the guitar work of Doug Aldrich rocks your brain.
Songs such as “Bustle and Flow”, “Chosen and Justified”, “Unspoken”, “Saving Grace” and “Righteous Days” have so much anthemic hard rock swagger. In this era of no live shows, civil unrest and a raging pandemic, this is the kind of album we need right now, a feel-good hard rock masterpiece where you will feel the smile spread across your face.
The Dead Daisies have pushed forward and into the depths of their own compositional groove here. As a long term hard rock and heavy metal fan I feel as though they link to the classic era as well as sound relevant to the modern narrative. Certainly an epic album.
