ALBUM REVIEW: Free Radicals – Dog Eat Dog
DOG EAT DOG blazed a trail in the 1990s with their fun-loving but hard-hitting melding of rock, hip hop and metal. Albums like All Boro Kings and Play Games were a big deal and saw them hitting the charts and playing to massive crowds all over the world, with some incredible festival appearances and iconic anthems like No Fronts helping them along the way. After their 1999 album Amped, their output slowed down and while the band intermittently still toured and brought out music, they haven’t released a full-length in 17 years. But now that long wait is over with Free Radicals, their new record which shows the band are back and ready to show the world how it’s done – the DOG EAT DOG way – all over again.
Recent single Lit Up starts the album off with a bang and it does sound great to hear the band blasting out again and this upbeat vibe continues on the likes of Time Won’t Wait, Man’s Best Friend and the perfectly named Energy Rock. It feels that DOG EAT DOG haven’t been away as you listen to these songs, such is the familiarity that they give off. It’s not all upbeat vibes though as album track Bar Down in particular marks a change of pace and style, but this just gives the music of Free Radicals another angle and it works well, and even that song still has that DOG EAT DOG flavour to it.
Although things have changed, the band definitely sound re-energised on Free Radicals, with John Connor’s vocal style and rapping skills still sounding on point, especially when added to the band’s music which encompasses Dave Neabore’s grooving basslines and Brandon Finley’s pounding but funky drums with new guitar player Roger Haemmerli adding a new dimension to the band’s sound. Most of all, it sounds like a band doing what they love and they’re not in it for the fame or the money, they’re doing it because they love and want to do it.
It has to be said that Free Radicals does roll back the years when it comes to the infectious nature and energy of the music of DOG EAT DOG, but this is far from some kind of throwback record as the band demonstrate throughout that they strive to push their music forward. On the evidence of Free Radicals, DOG EAT DOG are back doing what they do best; the party’s only just got started again and this album is the perfect soundtrack for it, so turn it up loud. It’s been far too long but it is with joy that they have returned, especially with such an enjoyable album as this.
Rating: 7/10
Free Radicals is set for release on October 20th via Metalville.
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