Dope

Blood Money: Part 1

By Jay Oakley

Well the wait is over. With Dope's reunion tour fully under way the only thing left for people to drool over was their new album. Well, here it is. Blood Money: Part 1 hit stores this week.

The title track "Blood Money" has a very industrial feel to it with the lyrics having a mafia style to them. "Shoulda Known Better" is the first standout track of the record with the same raw, anger and aggression that Dope has been known for. Pissed off lyrics about a relationship gone wrong, who can't relate to that? "Hold On" is a very straight forward rock song that would come across well live because of the speed behind the track. "1999" is your next taste of violence. Heavy as hell with a very aggressive drum beat.

"Razorblade Butterfly" is the closest thing your going to get to ballad. Soulful lyrics sung in a higher style backed by a series of solid guitar riffs. "A New Low" is a killer track and could be the highlight song of the record. Fast, aggressive but also features a vivid vocal delivery that get a crowd loud in a live setting. "Hypocrite" is definitely not the song for your mother. Loud, rude, angry and violent lyrics toward someone who did Edsel very wrong. "X-Hale" is a stripped down and slow song. Very seedy and has a delivery much more like a short story then a song.

Never one to shy away from an interesting cover song choice, Edsel delivers another cool choice in Hole's "Violet" as a bonus track.

All-in-all, with fifteen songs,  this is a solid album that is worth the wait. My only real issue is I wish the album had more of a band feel as opposed to an Edsel Dope solo effort. Don't be fooled this album will have all the Dope fans fucking stoked but Edsel does play most of the instruments on all the tracks. There are contributing efforts from Virus, Nikk Dibs and others but I think having four separate musicians putting in their collective talents make for magic. However, don't be scared to drop your money on this record.