Where I thought naming all your albums with roman numbers is only for cvlt black metal bands, southern rockers Maylene and the Sons of Disaster return with a brand new album, simply called III. When singer Dallas Taylor was asked to leave Underoath in 2003, he soon started Maylene in 2004 and the first EP (The Day Hell Broke Loose at Sicard Hollow) and first full length II created enough buzz to tour with big bands such as Haste the Day, A Static Lullaby, Norma Jean and surprisingly Dallas’ old band Underoath.

 

With the departure of 3 guitarists and the original drummer in 2008, the future of the band was a little unsure, but Dallas found the right replacements for the second full length album, and delivered a fine album once more. ‘Waiting On My Deathbed’ starts of with a country riff but results in a nice southern rock influenced hardcore track. The eleven tracks on the album do exactly what they have to do, rock ‘n roll! Where three guitarists do the music seldom any good, Maylene shows that it can be done. On the downside it must be said that the drums are really pushed to the background and the focus is mainly on the guitar and vocal work. The drumming parts can be considered boring as well, but because of the fact that it’s so pushed to the background it doesn’t get annoying. Dallas did more work on his clean vocals like in the melodic, acoustic track ‘Oh Lonely Grave’ that starts of really country/bluegrass once again but results in a fine, dirty piece of southern hardcore once again, switching to melodic vocals in the middle of the track that can be considered more alternative rock influenced.

 

In short, III is a good album once again but don’t expect anything groundbreaking. The dirty guitar work and Dallas’ vocals are the best part of the album but it’s a shame the drums are pushed to the background and don’t get exciting as the rest of the instrumentation. But anyway, Maylene delivered a fine album once again and I think it’s time to cross the water for some shows in Europe again!