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CORAL FANG
The Distillers
(Sire/Warner)
L.A. punks, we are told, have a new term for being backstabbed: Getting Brodied.
The inspiration? Distillers singer-guitarist Brody Dalle, who recently dumped her band, her husband (Rancid's Tim Armstrong), her married name and her indie record label in favour of a big-time deal, a romance with Josh Homme of QOTSA, a ticket to rock-magazine coverdom and a rep approaching Courtney Love's. All of which, quite frankly, we could care less about.
Trouble is, though, Brody is also losing touch with one thing that does matter -- her sound. The whiplash ferocity and wrist-slash desperation that distinguished her first CDs have been worrisomely diluted on her so-so third disc Coral Fang. Slower beats, bigger choruses, stronger melodies, strummier guitars and restrained numbers that veer perilously close to radioland could have you thinking this 11-song CD is a Hole record.
Admittedly, thanks to Brody's throat-shredding snarl, guttersnipe sexuality and chunky riffage, Coral Fang would be a really good Hole album. But next to a masterpiece like last year's Sing Sing Death House, it's proof good isn't always good enough.
She might be corporate punk's new It Girl -- but to get there, it seems Brody may have Brodied herself.
Track Listing
1. Drain The Blood
2. Dismantle Me
3. Die On A Rope
4. The Gallow Is God
5. Coral Fang
6. The Hunger
7. Hall Of Mirrors
8. Beat Your Heart Out
9. Love IS Paranoid
10. For Tonight You're Only Here To Know
11. Deathsex