  
Southern riffsters Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
emerged back in 2004 with an extremely gritty
and heavy as fuck sound; with a dozen line up
changes over the years, this latest version of
the band have matured musically to produce “IV”,
possibly the bands most dynamic and sleek release
to date. It’s not a complete shock that
this album’s sound has come about as previous
album “III” was definitely the start
of something beautiful.
“III” saw the band toning back on
the crunchy distortion and screaming vocals that
both “Maylene and the Sons of Disaster”
and “II” embraced and instead opted
for a more distinguished bassier sound. “IV”
takes this and one ups it in every possible way;
the range of different material is increased to
an all time high, the guitar work suits the southern
riffs more than ever and vocalist Dallas Taylor
explores the limits of his vocals with huge success.
Album opener “In Dead We Dream” throws
you straight into the storm of catchy riffs and
impressive vocal lines whilst second track “Save
Me” shows a whole new side to the band,
it’s ridiculously melodic and somehow manages
to integrate the really soft sections with their
riffy brilliance, just listen to Dallas’s
voice on this track its amazing. Not only do they
slightly tone back on some of the material, on
“Come For You” they explore that melodic
soft side that they’ve obviously been hiding
away somewhere because this is phenomenal, what
a beautiful voice.
The very fact they keep that southern vibe and
throw it down on every track regardless of the
style keeps it fresh and original. There aren’t
really many songs that are on par with how heavy
the band used to be but there are tracks that
have certain sections that are quite damn heavy;
“Never Enough”, “Fate Games”
and “Open Your Eyes” are all pro-headbanging
songs.
I do thoroughly hope that this band will finally
get British recognition for this albums, hopefully
it may encourage the band to finally come back
over here and bring that crazy live show with
them. Personally this album is my favourite of
all 4 of the bands albums and marks a real turning
point in their career.
4.5/5
Review by James Webb
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