I feel like we need to thank Moss really. If catwalk Kate hadn’t turned the head of The Kills’ Jamie Hince who proceeded to take his place two steps behind her at every photo op looking drawn and pallid, there’s a danger Alison Mosshart wouldn’t have put aside her insular bonding with her playmate and gone for the impromptu jam with Jack White, QOTSA’s Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs) that was the birth of their side project The Dead Weather. Their heavy alchemy when working together was so credible and lacked any of the novelty that White had flirted with in The Raconteurs that made ‘Horehound’, their debut album One album down, they challenged Them Crooked Vultures in being the super-group of 2009 and strengthen their case this year with the release of their sophomore. They continue with the guitar driven funky dirge and even welcome an electronic element to a couple of compositions. The album is less about distinct tracks – you could argue that they’re all quite similar – but for me, they present a notion of sound, a complete vibe or aesthetic of intense, stripped down rock. It’s a swell, a fever and it’s boiling over – play it loud and take it for the ride it is.
8/10 Emma Roberts
Emma Garwood is currently the editor of Outline Magazine, Norwich.
She is also an experienced music journalist and commercial copywriter for print, web and radio.
In her remaining hours, she is a playful web designer and rambling radio DJ.
All this she does, she maintains, with gallons of coffee and a stack of Muji stationery. 
