Burn It Down
Burn It Down has a convincing weight in the space between its instruments. The Dead Daisies give the riffs room to settle, let the drums land firmly and leave John Corabi enough space to roughen the melody. The result is a strong classic hard-rock record with a useful blues influence. Its best songs have more personality than the band's familiar collection of musical references might suggest.
“Resurrected” makes an effective opening. The rhythm feels solid, and the arrangement builds toward a more dramatic finish without losing its physical pull. The title track is slower and bluesier, allowing Corabi's voice to stretch rather than simply drive the chorus home. Doug Aldrich's guitar playing is expressive within that setting. His leads add a second voice to the arrangement instead of sounding like a compulsory solo break.
The later sequence is particularly strong. “Set Me Free” opens a larger, more reflective space, and the band gives the ballad enough weight to sit naturally among the harder songs. “Dead and Gone” restores the swagger through a sharply defined riff. “Can't Take It with You” is more frantic, while “Leave Me Alone” gives the ending a firm push. The movement between those tracks helps the album feel organized around changes in energy rather than one continuous demonstration of force.
There are still songs whose choruses have less character than the playing beneath them. The Rolling Stones cover “Bitch” fits the sound well, but it also reminds the listener how distinctive a simple riff-and-hook combination can be. Not every original reaches that level. Even so, Burn It Down has enough strong moments to make the full sequence satisfying. The band's skill is most valuable when it lets a song breathe, as on the title track and “Set Me Free.” Those performances give the heavier music something to push against and make the album feel like more than a collection of well-executed rock gestures.
