Album Review: The Arteries - Dead Sea

DIY. It means a lot of things to a lot of people. It’s a term used both as a badge of an honour and as an excuse for a job not quite done as well as it could have been. The Arteries are a DIY band; they do their own artwork, book their own tours and put out their own records (with a little help from their friends). However they never once come across like they’re being anything else than what they are, namely a fucking great punk rock band

‘Blood Sweat and Beers’ was a great record, it had anthems a-plenty and breakneck riffs that were as catchy as they were hard hitting. However with ‘Dead Sea’, these South Wales boys have taken all that made their first record what it was and added a depth to it that makes this a contender for UK punk rock of the year. The first thing that grabs you is how the vocals really form the centre piece of this record. While lead singer Miles was no slouch before, he sometimes came across as a tad one dimensional. On ‘Dead Sea’ however he handles the more tender moments with as much adeptness as the flat out bangers. Just listen to the three head opening salvo of ‘Capture The Flag’, ‘Mutual Friends’ and ‘No Place Like Home’ for proof.

The rest of the band have also really upped their game. The real strength of this album is its diversity. While ‘Turn of The Tide’ has an almost Bronx feel to it, the likes of ‘Acoustic Associations’ could have been lifted straight from a Gaslight Anthem record and the 5 minutes 28 seconds of ‘Sick’ sound like a sombre Weezer trying to write Fugazi a ballard . The influences are obvious but never does the album sound derivative as The Arteries are able to load their songs with buckets of their own personality and charm.

DIY or not this is a great record. Whether you got into punk rock through Punk-O-Rama or through Fall Out Boy you will find something to cherish on ‘Dead Sea’. Long may The Arteries continue doing this themselves.

5/5

'Dead Sea' by The Arteries is released on October 11th through Specialist Subject Records (pre-order).

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Barnet Dufton