Guitar Wolf - Dead Rock (2007) [Limited CD+DVD Edition] RESTORED

Guitar Wolf are as wild and unruly as ever, and this is one of their best records ever! Explanations? They had more time? They had more to prove? Who knows? What’s obvious is that these songs are better written. The riffs are thought out, and the hooks work, differentiating one song from the next. There are actual dynamics, with instruments dropping in and out, along with the usual Guitar Wolf balls out approach to crashing through the wall. Dead Rock is recorded better, too, straining the boundaries, but not damaging anything in the process. Welcome back Guitar Wolf!

Guitar Wolf howls once again on their album Dead Rock. This is the group's first full-length since the untimely passing of their original bass player Billy in March of 2005 and the record is dedicated to him. U.G., the new bass wolf, makes his recording debut with the group and fills out the low-end rumble as if he was born into it, while also contributing great backing vocals throughout the record. Guitar Wolf is known for their patented "Jett Rock 'N' Roll" formula and it's firmly in place on tracks like "Andromeda Man", and the album's title track, "Dead Rock". They do change up the mixture slightly on "Kenka Rock" with the use of the dramatic pause, but they never stray too far from the four-four drum beat that makes up most of their grinding garage punk assault. The highlight of the record could be the album's only cover; Bruce Springsteen's "Fire". The band embraces the song and makes it their own by infusing it with their signature, gritty overdriven sound and Seiji's impassioned vocal delivery. If you weren't familiar with the original you might think the group wrote it themselves. Dead Rock is a dead-on rock & roll record from start to finish and a fine return to form for one of Japan's greatest rock & roll bands.

~ Chris Taylor, all media guide

CD Tracklist:

01. Dead Rock
02. Andromeda Man
03. Red Me
04. Fighting Rock
05. Sex Napoleon
06. High Schooler Action
07. Wild Bikini Girl
08. Tokyo Zombie
09. Asian Explosion
10. Ikebukuro Tiger
11. Fire
12. Red Situation
13. Whistling Shadow

all songs by Guitar Wolf except "11" by Bruce Springsteen



Bonus DVD:

01. Kenka Rock [Music Video]
02. Koukousei Action [Music Video]
03. Making of Kenka Rock



Produced by Guitar Wolf
Engineered, Recorded & Mixed by Kazuyuki Matsumura
Mastered by Shuji Kitamura at Audio City Inc.
The album is dedicated by Billy (Bass Wolf).

Release Date: January 24, 2007
Format: Limited CD+DVD Edition
Number Of Discs: 2
Label: Ki/onn Records, Japan (Sony)
Catalog No.: KSCL-1088~9