The Beautician is the third effort by Bay Area punk revivalists
Dead & Gone. It finds them as angry and musically dissonant as ever. This time out, they produced their own album instead of relying on
Green Day's
Billy Joe Armstrong at the helm. The results are sonically murkier, though that works to their advantage. It creates a rougher edge, which is what they're aiming for.
Dead & Gone has a sound that relies more on creating a certain vibe than presenting an actual melody. Defiant and insolent as ever, the band builds on their reputation as proto-punk purists. Vocalist Shane Baker has returned to the band's lineup, snarling (you can't call it singing) as incomprehensibly as ever. Luckily, printed lyrics are included, so you can savor such tongue twisters as "sick street streak."
Dead & Gone are not unique or original, but they do manage to create an identifiable set of musical fingerprints. ~ Mary Grady