Dead Child: Attack

Louisville, Kentucky boasts a notable indie-rock

legacy, but the city has a deep history in hardcore and metal, too, with

several unironically true-blue metal acts (Kinghorse, Coliseum) having cut

their teeth there. Dead Child—which finds guitarists David Pajo (Slint,

Papa M) and Michael McMahan (The For Carnation, Slint's touring lineup),

bassist Todd Cook (Shipping News), and drummer Tony Bailey (Lords) backing

surname-free vocalist Dahm—is Louisville's latest metal export, and in

spite of recording for an indie-friendly label with producer Brad Wood (Liz

Phair, Say Anything), the band approaches metal without the expected indie-dude

detachment or dilettantism. Unfortunately, Dead Child also approaches metal

without the songs that made its influences—early Metallica and Judas

Priest—legendary. Attack signifies classic thrash and power-metal well

enough: The galloping riffs, dueling leads, and upper-register vocals are all

where they need to be. But Dead Child can't deliver a memorable melody to save

its life, and for all its warmth, Wood's production fails to add the equally

vital muscle and low end found in far greater '80s-thrash throwbacks like Black

Tide and Shadows Fall.