Album Review :: Dexters - We Paid For Blood

Dexters 

We Paid For Blood

September 25 2015 (Acid Jazz Records)

7.5/10

Words: Alison Mack

Following last year's 'Shimmer Gold' full-length debut (rated an 8/10 by Little Indie), East London boys Dexters return with its follow-up, the notorious second album. Not that they seem to have suffered any difficulty in coming up with material to equal  its predecessor; in fact, it may well be seen to surpass it.

Sounding confident and with a more mature sound, they still pull out the full flurry of big hooks and brash colliding guitars on this Nick Brine (Stone Roses, Oasis, Bruce Springsteen) produced, 12-track work.

The album's first three tracks, 'The Wolves' (not an homage to the football team, thankfully), the boldly anthemic lead single ‘Stay Strange' and the Tom Rowlett vocals-dominated ‘Suburban Sex Dungeon', all offer a hint of sinister darkness that is not in the least off-putting, even if it is a head-first plunge into this new side of Dexters.

These are then followed by a complete change of style and tempo on ‘Your Lovely Wife’. It might relate lyrically to a domestic husband-wife murder situation, but its structure with loudhailer effected vocals and clap-and-singalong melody make it the record oddity, and one that will probably be either loved or hated.

The rest of the album, particularly the title track and closer ‘These Nights Were Made For Us’, are weighty and defining. The 'difficult second' for Dexters has proved a giant leap forward; it will be interesting to see where they head from here.