Theory Of A Deadman – “Gasoline” [Album Review]

Theory of a Deadman is back with their second full-length release entitled Gasoline. The group’s self-titled first record was released in 2002 and quickly came to receive great reviews everywhere. Songs like “Nothing Can Come Between Us” and “Make Up Your Mind” were instant hits for this band from Vancouver, Canada. The group falls into the musical category of emotional hard rock, and although the y have very similar sound to fellow Canadian band Nickelback, rest assured that there is a distinct difference in sonance which sets the two apart. Although it has been roughly two and a half years since Theory of a Deadman released their first album the wait has been well worth the while.

The album commences with the colorfully titled track “Hating Hollywood.” The song is extremely catchy and has a great blend of hard and soft rock sounds. It is a perfect starting point for the rest of the CD; whoever mixed this album and chose the song order did a great job. “No Way Out”, the next song, is not as good as its predecessor; however it does have a faster tempo which nonetheless makes it a catchy tune. Falling in the third spot is the already known single, “No Surprise.” This song has already been playing on radios everywhere is a classic example of how Theory of a Deadman is an emotional hard rock band. The song is extremely upbeat and cheery, and despite its sad disastrous- relationship lyrics, one can’t help but dance around to this song. “Quiver” is next and is good! In some ways, the song sounds like it incorporates elements form early work from Days of the New, but it has its own twist – it actually gets hard. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s good.

For the fifth track, “Santa Monica”, the band really turns things down. They busted out the acoustic guitars and threw together a very touching number. Once again, the lyrics are depressing and involve a woman leaving her boyfriend, but we all know that good rock tunes usually involve “unhappy themes.” This song really stands out as an excellent piece, and there is no reason why it won’t become one of their future singles. “Better Off”, is another short, sweet, and fast-paced song which encourages one to jam-out. It might not be a hit, but it falls far from being a “filler” song. Track seven “Say Goodbye”, is another great emotional rock song, it really sounds like the band’s previous work and is another candidate for a single. Next we have “Hello Lonely” which is a great driving tune and seeing as summer is just around the corner, will be a great tune to have blaring from the car stereo. The song, however, is not as good as “Santa Monica”, and is tad repetitive at times. The remaining five tracks are actually only four, for song eleven, “Hell Just Ain’t the Same” is only a minute long and hardly qualifies as a song. The remaining four tracks then, do maintain a typical and good Theory of a Deadman sound; two are hard, two are soft, all are worth a few listens.

A band’s second CD always undergoes severe scrutiny, for it usually indicates whether they are to be “one-hit-wonders” or a band with a future. Well, after careful analysis of the entire album (at least 4 to 5 times), it’s safe to say that Theory of a Deadman has a bright future. The group has not necessarily changed tremendously since their first release, but the songs are defiantly not the “same old thing.” Although they seem to only sing about relationship-related problems (which can be over-played) the band’s songs are extremely good. The album is called gasoline, and coincidentally it’s highly flammable. Sorry, bad joke, but couldn’t resist!

Track Listing:

01. Hating Hollywood
02. No Way Out
03. No Surprise
04. Quiver
05. Santa Monica
06. Better Off
07. Say Goodbye
08. Hello Lonely (Walk Away From This)
09. Me & My Girl
10. Since You’ve Been Gone
11. Hell Just Ain’t the Same
12. Save the Best for Last
13. In the Middle

Run Time: 44:41
Release Date: March 29, 2005