Drop Dead, Gorgeous
The Hot N' Heavy
Suretone
Plenty of haters ripped into 2007's Worse Than a Fairy Tale, accusing Drop Dead, Gorgeous of softening its assault to up the accessibility quotient – and the act's latest will likely be slapped with the same criticism, even though The Hot N' Heavy is frequently both. Sure, there are missteps, including the compromised single "Two Birds, One Stone" and the concluding "We're Planning, God's Laughing," which falls considerably shy of its epic ambitions. But cuts such as "Killing a Classic" and "(The) Internet Killed the Video Star" effectively balance more melodic passages with Danny Stills-led shriekfests and regular guitar-buzz-bomb attacks. If the album isn't nearly as lethal as 2006's Be Mine, Valentine, an EP that squeezed six assaultive tracks into twelve minutes, it's still capable of doing some damage.
