The Dewhickies - "A World Without Cheese" (Dirty Diaper Records)

Album review by Brad Simmons

The Dewhickies love cheese. It is without a doubt that this album is heavily influenced by one thing and one thing only... cheese. The album opens with a tale, a story of cheese was placed on the earth. To lovers of cheese it might be hilarious, but to the rest of us it seems like the band tried too hard on the opening storyline.

The song "Supermodel" starts off as an alternative rock song, then progresses into power cords with a simple taste of power pop/punk. On "Supermodel" the band seems solid and well rehearsed. Singer Zach Hodson's voice seems lacking at times, but has strains with enough power to carry the band through the song. "Constellation" is the Dewhickies cover of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". The guitar part gets trapped into a repetitive pattern of just two notes repeated through out most of the song, which grows tiresome after a while.

The song "Jupiter Smiles" is the real cheddar on this album. This song has a change of style in the middle that makes it stand out from the others. It starts with a pop/punk feel and evolves into a Nirvana-type song that really rocks. It then heads back to the original guitar and bass pattern that brings the song home.

At times the songs seem baren. Bass riffs don't always fit, changes in tempo detract from songs, and beats are dropped here and there. The comedy bits would have been best left out - they don't really seem to fit on the album, which at times sends out some semi-serious messages. Although the band has shaky spots at times, toward the end of the CD these cheese lovers make things work out for the cheddar.

Over all, the album might just be like cheese, not for everyone and for others an acquired taste.

To get more information on The Dewhickies you can visit their website at www.dewhickies.com.

--Brad Simmons
brad@thezone.org