DEAD MOULD Polymog (SPV)

Dead Mould are a trio hailing from Detmold in Germany, who like Bob Mould (hence the name) and claim to be equally influenced by Metallica (not my sort of thing) and Hüsker Dü (very much my sort of thing). What the press release somehow neglects to mention is that they sound almost exactly like Pearl Jam, normally enough to get me testing the combustion abilities of these new-fangled silver beermat thingies.

But, despite this, "Polymog" is, whisper it, quite a good album. Vocalist/bassist Eudel sounds like the spitting image of Eddie Vedder, and quite clearly means it, man, even when ‘it’ is the usual blank generation teenage angst "fuelled by inevitable small town boredom". In addition Dead Mould are not strangers to the concept of a rattling good tune, for example the powerful opener "Hit" and the ten-minute "Diggin’ A Hole", the first few minutes of which appear to be a German television play that provides the source of the album’s title. Sadly "Big Muff" turns out not to be the John Martyn song of the same name, but you can’t have everything, can you?
If you like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and all that stuff we used to call grunge then you probably can’t go wrong with this, and even though I don’t I’ll admit a sneaking admiration of its obvious sincerity and intensity. As Eudel puts it, "Dead Mould is the play of seemingly inherent lethargy and an urgent sense of having to get out...the lyrics express a deep and meaningful cynicism, reflections which are not an uncouth punch in the mouth but rather a cyanide suppository with delayed reaction...". There’s nothing you can add to that, is there?!