CADAVER DOGS
Pariah Social
Independent

This album kicks off with a shit-kicking five-across-the-eyes entitled “No One But Myself to Blame,” which spells out the Cadaver Dogs (a sibling band to the Manvils) as one of the better Vancouver bands which cheerfully dedicate itself to punked-out pre-1980 forms of leather-n-whiskey rock and roll…where the only white belts around were the ones used to hang yourself in jail. Pariah Social’s dirty dozen songs give many nods to Gram Parsons, Mike Ness, Hank III, the Black Crowes, the Drive-By Truckers, and of course the classic underlay of the Stones and the Faces. I only wish Pariah Social’s rather dry production had a fuller Terry Date / Mike Clink swell to it, as it’s always critical for exciting live bands (such as the Cadaver Dogs) to ensure that their live frenzy is captured on album, but that’s not anyone’s fault…these guys probably blew their recording grants on flats of malt liquor; they’re being true to themselves and acting in accordance to established hard-rocking tradition (everyone needs to blitz themselves after midnight at Profile Studios at least once in their Vancouver life). And besides, the songs are greasy and gripping and gritty and great. When they said the South will rise again, they probably meant White Rock. Posted: May 6, 2008