Graveyard Lovers Bring the Riffs, But Not the Substance

Today, Graveyard Lovers released Dreamers, a collection of eleven riff-based rock songs. The tracks range from the Ramones-styled "Nameless" to the cock-rock of "Love & Hunger," a song that somehow worms its way into my head whenever I'm making spaghetti or cleaning the bathroom. Frontman Zach Reynolds sounds a bit like Perry Ferrell, but he lacks Farrell's ability to craft a story from abstract lyrics.  Take "When I Get Mine," one of the poppiest songs on the album, that is never able to truly take off because of generic lines like "I used to love a different woman / She used to say she loved me too / Then she ran off with some other guy / Yeah, she left me sad and blue."  It's almost like Zach wrote the guitar part and said, "Fuck the lyrics.  Next song."  The record's shining moment is the title track, which chugs along brightly and sounds like the band actually took some time building it into something past the riff.  Hell, there's even harmonica!  The album was produced by the band and Will Benoit, and a more experienced producer would benefit them on the next album.  There's a lot of records coming out this month, so Dreamers is by no means essential.  However, if you're so inclined to cherry-pick a couple tunes, you might just grab some sweet ones.