Record Label: Fat Wreck Chords
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Dead FM represents Strike Anywhere’s departure from the Jade Tree label and move to greener pastures with Fat Wreck Chords. Although the 5-piece from Richmond Virginia has not made any giant leaps forward with this release, they managed to further refine their killer sound. Bottom line; you can’t fix what ain’t broke.

This album clocks in at just over 31 minutes of straight-ahead, sweat inducing, fist pumping punk rock panoply. 14 delicious tracks pound the senses with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the teeth. Sedition’ kicks things off and is a good barometer for the rest of the album.

Singer Thomas Barnett’s vocal alternate between searing screams and melodic weavings, not unlike Rise Against’s frontman, Tim McIlrath. Musically, Dead FM has all the things I’ve come to love about punk rock. The drums set the pace at breakneck speed while the guitars cut through with an ample supply of palm-muted chugs. God I love that sound.

But the package wouldn’t be complete without thought provoking, inspiring lyrics. Fortunately, Strike Anywhere’s lyrics are as valid and poignant as they’ve always been. Sedition’ unravels a tale bordering on Hollywood lore. Barnett rages through the chaos to retell the story of his grandfather, an employee during the Manhattan Project and the subsequent birth defects suffered by Barnett’s father. That’s some pretty heavy shit! The album also contains an abundance of the ubiquitous targets of punk music religion, military and the general disarray of today’s America. The refreshing aspect is that Strike Anywhere doesn’t cram their perspectives down the listener’s throat but rather lays out the facts and lets the chips fall where they may.

In a world where the line between what’s punk and what isn’t, is constantly being blurred by the mass-produced bubblegum pop rock/punk, it’s nice to hear a band that has stayed true-to-form and settled for not. Sure they made the switch to a major label but in my opinion that hardly labels them anything but a few guys who want to earn a decent living. Dead FM is a well-crafted piece of punk-culture and should be given its just desserts. Do yourself a favor and get this album.

Bottom Line: If you’re a Strike Anywhere fan you won’t be disappointed.
Notable Tracks: Sedition, How to Pray, Hollywood Cemetary, Gunpowder
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