MISSED CONNECTION - The Inklings Bring Back 80’s Alt Rock Sounds with Bring Out Your Dead

This album review is quite late as Bring Out Your Dead came out back in July of 2021, but the band contacted me about the album. I felt like the least I could do is give the music a shot and give it my honest feedback.

Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of The Inklings until I was contacted by the band to check out their music by the band’s lead singer Darren Thomas. He submitted the album for review, and I wanted to give it a chance.

My honest opinion is that the music is good, and that the sound is quite reminiscent of bands like Pixies and The Clash. The lyrics for the songs are actually pretty interesting as well.

Now, the overall sound isn’t exactly my cup of tea necessarily just because I never got much into the 80’s Brit Rock / Alt Rock sound. It was always a bit drab and mundane as a genre for me.

That being said, with The Inklings, I can appreciate a lot of what they do. They are all quite good musicians. Thomas can shred on guitar solos quite seamlessly, and his son, James Thomas is a versatile and on point drummer. The bass parts are quite killer as well and possibly my favorite thing to listen to on a lot of the tracks. The bass parts are split between James and Darren over the album, and it comes out sounding quite good. 

Songs like “Under The Stairs” has a story line that is a great example of the old school sound and subject matter that kind of went along with the genre. Basically, it tells the story of a woman who gets abducted and forced to live under the stairs. Each refrain progresses the story a little further too.

I think the guitar line throughout “Envious Eyes” is quite cool, and the chorus definitely has some stickiness to it.

Probably one of my favorite songs on the album is “The Real Price of Oil” as it does get big with sound and has a political slant to the lyrics.

“Northern Star” is a bit of an epic sounding song which is one of the better songs on the album as well. It has some strings (or keyboard version of such) in the song that gives it a cool sound.

“93 Percent (Reality Bytes)” is a more uptempo song than much of the rest of the album that stands out for that reason. I will say the more punchy vocals on this one is a bit rudimentary for my liking though. It’s almost as if the vocals have to sing at the same time as the guitar strums / drum beats in certain parts, and it just sounds too forced for meter instead of trying to make it sound like singing.

The final song “Bring Out Your Dead” is definitely a song that reminds me of “London’s Calling” by The Clash…I am not sure why exactly, but I had to listen to both songs back to back to see why it connected in my head that way. I think it is the beat and the bassline with the vocal similarities that harken that song specifically.

Overall, I will say if you were a fan of The Clash, then you may like The Inklings too. I personally did NOT like The Clash. However, I do appreciate the musicianship and the work that The Inklings put into this album, and I am glad I got to listen to it. It’s always fun to see what is out there.

I recommend given it a listen just out of curiosity and see if it fits your fancy.