Deadly Snakes - Ode To Joy

This is the third album from Toronto, Canada’s Deadly Snakes, and they have a relatively short, but impressive musical history. Their first album, 'Love Undone', was produced by Greg Cartwright (that’s Greg Oblivian to you...a claim to fame in itself), and released by the always excellent Sympathy for the Record Industry label. By the time of their second album,'I'm Not Your Soldier Anymore', Greg Oblivian had fully joined the band on guitar. It was released on In The Red records (another exceptional label with an exceptional catalogue of artists), and his contributions definitely showed up as a big influence on the band’s musical style. On this their third album, 'Ode to Joy' (also on In The Red) we find the band without an Oblivian, but with a more matured less-garage, more-gospel influenced style. They have definitely stepped into their own here with this release as they find their place without him. For the past few years the Deadly Snakes have been breathing new life into the Toronto garage-rock scene, and doing it with a truly authentic feel. 'Ode to Joy' has a heavy 60's R&B inspired feel, albeit in a less structured way than things actually were in the 60's...there’s the underlying sense here of a lot more “movement” happening, something that really comes into play in their live performances. I had the chance to see them recently at the Toronto “take out the trash" fest, and it’s clear that they are the hometown darlings. Toronto really loves them, and rightfully so, given a town full of such mass “poseurs”, I’m glad to see someone actually deserving of some credit get their due. I should point out though that they were easily the “loosest” band on the bill that night, but that was probably due in no small part to the amount of time they had to inebriate themselves before they finally hit the stage (one would assume, anyway...) And this is definitely a record to drink to. The title 'Ode to Joy' I presume, is a sarcastic reference, given that lyrically there’s not a lot of happiness to be found here, evidenced in these song titles, if nothing else: 'I Want to Die', 'There Goes Your Corpse Again', "Trouble’s Gonna Stay Awhile', sad ‘tis true, yet still so energetic. You’ll be shakin’ your butt with that tear in your beer. Truthfully who can’t sometimes find a certain amount of joy in wallowing in misery. It can at times be a necessity of life. The Deadly Snakes offer up this fervent emotion in the same way a gospel choir would. Yet it manages to be soulful, bluesy gospel, without being overtly religious. And gospel for the sake of its music instead of its originally intended religious zeal is definitely a contemporary play on a particular style, and they do it well. Still though I think my heart lies with their first album 'Love Undone', even though I can easily concede that with 'Ode to Joy' and a deeper musical direction, they are definitely moving into their forte with a far less guitar-raunch sound and an over-riding emphasis on organ-driven swamp blues. This is definitely what they are good at.

Track Listing:-

1 Closed Casket
2 I Can't Sleep At Night
3 Playboys
4 Oh My Bride
5 Trouble's Gonna Stay A While
6 I Want To Die
7 Burn Down The Valley
8 Nick And Chico
9 I'm Leaving You
10 There Goes Your Corps Again
11 Everybody Seems To Think
12 Sink Like Stones
13 Mutiny And Lonesome Blues