The Dead Daisies Drop New Single

Saying that 2022 has been a year of diverse output for the international underground just isn’t fair – when compared side by side with recent years past, 2022 has been a rainbow of rhythm and tonality that a lot of critics really couldn’t have seen coming. This fall, legendary players like those in The Dead Daisies are gaining particular momentum on the strength of their indie and mainstream hard rock counterparts’ lull in output, but listening to the new single “Face Your Fear” has made me question if this is the sole reason why. With the right combination of pipes, pulsations, and poetry, this act turned me into a fan of their new single overnight (although I admittedly came into this listen a follower of each player’s previous output). 

The percussion isn’t quite as loud as the vocal is in this mix, but if we’re being real, it doesn’t need to be to have just as demonstrative an emotional contribution as any of the other elements here have. Singer Glenn Hughes capitalizes on the fact that his voice is as versatile a divine creation as it is in “Face Your Fear,” and in letting this arrangement push the bass to the top, he makes it easier to slip a heavy drum component into the grander scheme of things thus making the eruption near the finish line all the more cathartic.  

I don’t think that this crew needed to work as much of the hook into the big picture as they did, but just the same, I don’t think anything is powerful enough in this song to take much of the spotlight away from The Dead Daisies’ massive riffing and killer lead vocal. At the helm, we already know Hughes has got mad skills with the microphone in his hand, and even in front of a backdrop like the one we see in the music video for “Face Your Fear,” his energy tends to be the greatest part of any given performance. 

Though I haven’t seen The Dead Daisies in a live performance, I want to after getting into “Face Your Fear.” The mood, the moxie, even the melodic command of the instrumental parts here would be something to experience in person even more than it is in this capacity, and something tells me that this band is going to get on top of booking some new gigs as soon as this latest release catches fire on the radio. 

I honestly expected greatness in this song before I listened to “Face Your Fear” for the first time, but if this is what all of their output is going to sound like, you can count me in for more of The Dead Daisies’ sound. Talent isn’t endless – it’s as finite a blessing as it gets in this universe, but these artists aren’t taking it for granted at all. “Face Your Fear” exhibits some serious muscle-flexing on this band’s part, and in this release, it’s making them the toast of October hard rock and metal without question.  

Mindy McCall