Album Review: Dead Sheeran - "A National Disgrace"

 

"I saw a clip of Boris Johnson on the news the other day/Made me wanna punch the screen, the man's a fuckin' disgrace!". Now there's an opening line for you. Dead Sheeran (aka Paul Catten) first came to our attention recently with his self-titled EP recorded in the first lockdown which was a sheer howl of frustration at lockdown society and the state of Britain in 2020 and as opening number Can Things Get Any Worse? demonstrates here, the intervening six months or very much haven't seen him mellow. In an era where we've had several bands who've tried the "electro rock 'n' roll with a social conscience" schtick (Sleaford Mods, Idles, Fontaines DC), most have come frustratingly close to putting out a good album but not quite pulled it off.

However, the lack of pretentiousness and sheer vitriol here sees Dead Sheeran properly nailing the formula and A National Disgrace might just the most damning inditement of the sorry state this septic isle finds itself in at the moment. Crucially though, there's a dark sense of humour at play here on songs like I'm An Interesting Bunch Of Guys or the social media warrior skewering They're All Laughing At Ya which prevents this from going into pinch-faced ranting. But it's when he merges the fury and the gallows humour such as on the scathing Pick For Britain and the anti-vaxxer bashing Keep Your Distance which skewers the directionless of this government with some incredibly sharp gallows humour that he's at his best.

Let there be no doubt though that the guy is bang on the money - The Problem With This Country and It’s All Kicking Off In The Streets dissect the hatefulness of this government with scalpel-like precision while Who's That Twat? shows just how ridiculous the prospect of working class people voting for the Tories is. Similarly, Things Weren't Better In The Eighties is a sequel of sorts to the EP's Things Were Better In The Eighties and proves that the more things change the more they depressingly stay the same.

Like the EP, A National Disgrace is a feral howl of anger and despair at the horribly desperate state of this nation in 2020 but it recognises that sometimes when you're facing a horribly uncertain future and the nagging feeling that as bad as the last 12 months have been there's every chance that it could still get worse, the only thing you can do is adopt the gallows humour approach and laugh bitterly at it. As a state of the nation address, it's near flawless and one of the best albums I've heard this year so far. You can stream or download it, and I strongly recommend you do, from the Dead Sheeran Bandcamp page.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 (9/10)