ALBUM REVIEW: Death By Rock And Roll – The Pretty Reckless

When the wonderment of childhood was spent in the wonderland of Hollywood, and your rebellious outburst of teenage angst was on display for all to see in character on the small screen, you’d be forgiven for falling further into the fame trap. For Taylor Momsen, she sought solace in the role of being heavy metal’s heroine, finding her feet in the world post-retirement from acting as the vocalist of THE PRETTY RECKLESS. Whilst they spent some time in the spotlight, most notably crashing the top five of the US Charts on 2014’s Going To Hell, they’ve been on a downward spiral since 2016’s lacklustre follow-up Who You Selling For? 

They’ve been teasing their fourth studio album since the dying embers of pre-pandemic 2019, and whilst for many bands this would be the sounding of the death knell for an album, Death By Rock And Roll is as rare as hen’s teeth as an exception to the rule. Breaking out of the barriers of their blackened bluesy hard rock that plagued their previous effort, they shapeshift between britpop, post-grunge, southern-rock, alt-country, and straight-up hard-rock. THE PRETTY RECKLESS are done making albums, they’re making greatest hits sets with songs they haven’t even sung yet. 

Titular opener Death By Rock And Roll channels their penchant for mid-nineties post-grunge a la long-term influences and tourmates SOUNDGARDEN, slipping between Ben Phillips‘ dizzyingly distorting riffs and the power-pummelling pipes of Momsen. The Kim Thayil-featuring Only Love Can Save Me Now journeys further down the post-grunge rabbithole, putting to bed any questions you may have had about what a latter-era ALTER BRIDGE and SOUNDGARDEN supergroup would’ve sounded like, with a solo to slide you into next year to boot. 

So it’s settled, THE PRETTY RECKLESS have crystalised the secret formula bands spend years searching for, and it’s twelve tracks of the same? Oh, how wrong you are, dear reader, how wrong you are. The Tom Morello-featuring And So It Went is full of punk-fuelled pomp, machine-gun stomping it’s way through, spilling into a dream-pop purgatory before breaking into a stadium sing-along anthem that leaves you craving for more. If that wasn’t enough, Got So High spends it’s time somewhere in the land of brit-pop and post-grunge, as if ALANIS MORRISETTE thought it’d be a good idea to join OASIS, streamlined through the softer sections of CREEPER’s Sex, Death & The Infinite Void meanwhile Standing At The Wall is far more fitting as a cutting floor leftover of TAYLOR SWIFT’s long pond sessions. Closing duo Rock And Roll Heaven & Harley Darling are the spiritual siblings of 70’s southern rock and modern-day alt-country, cradling itself between THE EAGLES and THE CHICKS.

Lyrically, Momsen is as diverse as THE PRETTY RECKLESS are musically, waxing lyrical on the intricacies of her life spent living in the limelight. Armed with her gritted growl and powerhouse pipes, Momsen and co. tackle the misogyny of the music industry they’ve made their mark in (Witches Burn), the empowerment and the dangers of sexuality (25) and the idolisation of rock and roll, infatuating over the infamous ‘27 club’ throughout the entirety of Death By Rock And Roll, loosely inspired somewhat by the death of her idol Chris Cornell. 

Whilst we often cling to the classic cliche of ‘what goes up, must come down’, on Death By Rock And Roll, THE PRETTY RECKLESS proves that what goes down, can inevitably rise up like a phoenix from its ashes. By taking the listener on a rollercoaster ride down a rock-and-roll rabbithole, Death By Rock And Roll is the album The PRETTY RECKLESS were destined to make in order to ascend to the upper echelons of hard rock heaven. 

Rating: 9/10

Death By Rock And Roll is set for release on February 12th via Century Media Records. 

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