The Need Is Dead

AMG Review of The Need Is Dead

Jimmy Draper
All Music Guide

Unlike the experimental junk-punk of their quirky, queer debut, the Need's follow-up album features the twosome venturing into heavy metal-pedaled noir. And while the set-up may be largely the same as before -- organs, guitars, drums, and screeching vocals -- and the songs may be full of the same inexplicable lyrics, The Need Is Dead nonetheless manages to come off as a fantastically successful departure for the Olympia, WA-based duo. And by the sounds and styles of it, the band has spent a fair share of time between albums catching up on horror flicks, '80s metal, and ock operas. As a Rocky Horror Picture Show-meets-AC/DC hybrid that refuses to sound like anything else on the post-punk horizon, the band's second full-length once again assures listeners that the Need is definitely alive and ticking like a time bomb ready to blow.