With a recently released full-length album, The Golden Age of Not Even Trying, Dead! deliver an adrenaline-fuelled live renditioning, bringing their raucous and rebellious youth attitude to Nottingham.

Dead! originally met at Southampton University and have since built a loyal following of fans over the last six years across the UK and internationally. 2016 saw a signing with Infectious Records, a subsidiary of the major label BMG, which has, in turn, led to the release of their debut album on January 26th of this year, entering in at number 34 in the official UK album charts.

The band initially come at you with attitude. Their presence immediately realised the second that they step on stage. An instantaneous sense of the building up of energy as the band restlessly prepare for a moment, before breaking out with their opening track to a receptive audience. Dead! are a band that feels like they are playing to you, demanding attention, but at the same time giving it back and engaging the audience with every opportunity.

Dead!’s sound is a little difficult to pinpoint. With an obvious eclectic mix of influences that range from Rock and Punk to Grunge and Indie, there is also a hint of Post Hardcore and New Metal subtly thrown into the mix.

There is an attitude with Dead! that feels very reminiscent of early nineties grunge of anti-commercialism, but with commercial intentions to prove a point; and not even trying at all, just doing the music that they want to do and having fun doing it. Underneath, driving Dead!’s sound is distorted grunge like bass and powerful drums accompanied with overdriven guitars. On the surface however are rhythms and melodies that prove Dead! are much more than how they like to present themselves.

Alongside that youth energy and uncaring attitude are emotional portrayals of captured moments. These moments can be heard quite prominently in the songs ‘Jessica’ and ‘W9’. The band do not shy away from pop punk like singalong moments either, present in ‘Enough, Enough, Enough’ and ‘Any Port’.

Lead vocalist Alex Mountford, perhaps reminiscent somewhat of a young Chester Bennington - in the sense of similarities of having an attitude with emotion and that sense of showmanship. His energy and attitude on stage prove his title as a frontman, inviting the audience into the music and inciting moments of singing to memorable choruses. 

Guitarists Sam and Louis Matlock and bassist Sam Chappell also give a top performance, throwing themselves into every riff and hook.
The band played through much of their new album, kicking out the New Metal era like anthem ‘The Boys The Boys’, then grunge throwback ‘Petrol & Anaesthetic’, before the high octane punk track ‘Up For Ran$ome’, and the ultimate singalong anthem ‘You’re So Cheap’.

At one point a guitarist attempted to climb a stack of speakers with the help of security. Perhaps embarrassing though, it didn’t quite compliment the band’s confident appearance, with more time spent on nervously and awkwardly attempting to climb and stand than actually playing the song.

This, however, isn’t a gripe, but another testament to their perseverance as a band.This was perhaps somewhat symbolic of their own awkward climb upwards as a band, but a climb which will ultimately lead to standing on top.

Dead! are a band worth checking out next time they’re in Nottingham. Their album, The Golden Age of Not Even Trying, is available to stream now on Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming services.