The Pretty Reckless

Death By Rock And Roll

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ft. Tom Morello, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron.
Genre: Hard Rock, Morden Rock, Grunge.
Released: 12/02/2021
Via Century Media / Fearless Records

Album Review: The Pretty Reckless – Death By Rock And Roll

The Pretty Reckless are back with the band’s fourth album, this album is the first released without the late producer Kato Khandwala, who previously worked on all The Pretty Reckless’ albums.

The album jumps straight into it with the title track, giving you a raucous of twangy guitars, backed with a great drum beat, before settling behind Taylor Momsen’s piercing voice. The song seems to reference the notorious ‘Club 27’ – a group of artists that have died aged 27, including Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse – with lyrics like “I want to go with a shotgun blast” and “I wanna go with this bottle in my veins”, with the track being released as a single shortly before Momson’s 27th birthday.

The track also seems to start the album by paying homage to the band’s late producer Kato Khandwala, who sadly died on April 25, 2018 following a motorcycle crash. Lyrics like “I wanna go with a motorcycle crash” seem to reference this directly, whilst “Just put “Death by rock and roll”” Taylor revealed in an interview with Paper Magazine to be “a line that Kato used to say all the time.”

‘Only Love Can Save Me Now’ follows, taking clear influences from 90’s grunge acts like Soundgarden, which makes sense with its features of Pearl Jam/Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron and Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil. ‘And So It Went’ follows the same feeling as the previous track. The track features a tasty guitar solo from Tom Morello. The songs have a dark and gritty feeling.

‘25’ sounds like it could be a bond theme, starting with a clean guitar before further building with an almost militaristic drumbeat. The track shows off Taylor Momsen’s vocal range, going from light whispering to screaming the chorus. The song sees Momsen reflecting on her life. A great single.

‘My Bone’ features a drumbeat that I feel wouldn’t be out of place on an Alestorm album, sounding like a good “weighted rowing beat”. The song has a wonderful moment halfway through where it kicks the beat away before exploding into something that feels like a totally different track, the beat then makes a return toward the end.

‘Got So High’ slows the album down showing off Momsen’s godlike voice, on a gentle acoustic guitar, and some light drumming. The track is one of the highlights from the album. Later in the album ‘Standing At The Wall’ gives us another taste of this acoustic style, again putting Taylor’s talented vocals at the forefront, before breaking into a majestic explosion of sound, with violins and drumming complimenting the front woman’s voice well.

‘Broomsticks’ makes for an odd addition to the album. The Halloween single/Interlude/Poem thing was used to announce the release date of the single ‘25’ with its official video. The track is a far turn away from the rest of the album’s strong rock-leaning. An inoffensive 30 seconds, but also a pointless 30 seconds. ‘Witches Burn’ brings the album back onto its rock path, albeit a slower track with strong guitars, the track features a really catchy chorus.

‘Turning Gold’, starts with an unusual sound of a sitar, the instrument then leads into a pulsing beat, before adding more and more guitar layers. The track has quite an 80’s rock sound to it. The Sitar remains present in the background throughout the track, but is mostly covered by the rest of the instruments.

‘Rock And Roll Heaven’ feels like a goodbye to Momsen’s friend’s producer Kato and Momsen’s idol Chris Cornell – who died less than a year before Kato. The song references several artists including The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, describing it as “a garden full of sound” a nod to the late Soundgarden singer. The song talks about how “Everything I am today is what you made of me” talking about how Kato helped shape her. The song mixes some acoustic guitar, with some big electric guitar riffs. The track has a kinda southern feel to it. The album finishes up with ‘Harley Darling’ the song is another dedicated to Kato, it has a country-rock vibe, and features a great sounding guitar solo. The song ends the album well.

This is a great album, that features several styles, taking influences from many great acts from across the years, throughout, which make it interesting to listen to several times. There’s lots here to love. ‘Death By Rock and Roll’ becomes the band’s best album to date, with the band maturing and honing their sound.