In a town like College Station, Texas, when you find a talented band, you must latch on to it. One is usually hard pressed to find a name that Texas A&M can be really proud of. When a music connoisseur from the area hears something other than country twang or the next emotion-filled Dashboard Confessionals acoustic performer, they tend to grasp it like a mother bear to her cubs in danger. Enter local rock band Dead Black Hearts. Hailing from Austin and College Station, Texas, the Dead Black Hearts incorporate a numerous amount of musical influences into their post-grunge/garage style rock.

The style and variety of the songs found on their debut CD, It’s Not Me. It’s You, is as variable as each song. Each song feels like a tribute to many different great bands ranging from Foo Fighters to Radiohead to Oasis. This can be a downside for many people who desire a more consistent sounding album. Many listeners get distracted and put off by an album that tries to cover a too broad field of genres. This is not the issue for this album, though, as the genre traversing is done very elegantly and seamlessly. It is able to give the listener a good feel of the diversity of their talent without being too erratic with their songs.

The album is very well produced. It is obvious that they worked very hard on this album. A song that demonstrates their abilities, and stands out the most on the album is the second track entitled “A Lot of Things to Prove”. As a band just releasing their first album they do have much to prove, and they set out to prove their worth to the music community. Incorporating lyrics that look like they come right out of a Chuck Palahniuk novel and crunching power chords makes you feel the testosterone flowing through the music. This is also sometimes heard in the voice of vocalist and guitarist, Brian Carlson. Often pushing his voice to the point of harsh grating, Carlson really gives the grunge effect to the album.

Dead Black Hearts is a band that really wants and deserves exposure on the local scene. They have worked hard and it shows through their music. Anyone can hear their cd and check for show times at www.deadblackhearts.com.