What can you say about The Dwarves that hasn’t already been said? They’re one of the bands that need no introduction – they’re more ‘punk’ than practically every band we’ve ever written about on this very site. They’ve done everything, pissed everyone off and ‘The Dwarves Must Die’ is just a further extension of what they’ve been doing for donkeys years. This latest record goes back to what the band do better – after all, ‘Come Clean’ was a bit off kilter even for The Dwarves. However, going back to what they know doesn’t neccessarily make this record particularly good. Infact at times, ‘The Dwarves Must Die’ is absolute tosh. But it wouldn’t be a Dwarves album without some fantastic moments either, so I guess over the course of the entire record they even themselves out.
Frontman Blag Dahlia is his usual energetic self, making songs like ‘Another Classic’ stand out with stacks of personality. But for every song that’s listenable, there’s at least one which begs to be skipped. While the lyrical matter of ‘Massacre’ is reasonably funny (remember those pictures of Blag after being allegedly whacked by Queen of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme? Well this song is about him…), the song itself is pretty bad. “You slept on my floor/Now I sleep through your mother-fucking records†may well be a pretty spiteful line, but the way it’s delivered is more joke than anger. But still, that’s what The Dwarves are all about – they piss people off, even their fans, and people always come back for more. Their fanbase will love it, but I personally think the phrase ‘flogging a dead horse’ comes to mind. But then what would I know…
Sympathy for the Music Industry
Paul