The Nearly Deads - Zombie EP

Yeah, it's yet another chick-fronted modern rock band, but these kids got moxie.Thanks to bands like District 97 and lead singer Leslie Hunt's exhilarating vocals, my itch for female singers in a heavy rock setting has been scratched for a while. But along comes The Nearly Deads' Zombie EP with its heavy pop/modern rock rhythyms that back up a blonde chanteuse with great stage presence and the voice to back it up. Having started in Florida, they've since moved to Nashville with every intention of making it big by constantly writing and performing to hone their chops.

The band themselves seem to have a diverse set of influences, but they all collectively love 90s era grunge and claim to want to fly that flag - though I don't really hear that in their music. The music on this EP sounds more along the lines of modern rock, or heavier pop music (probably sounding so because of Theresa Jeane's vocals) with a enough attitude thrown in to make it fun without becoming the self-parody most neo-punk tends to be - even though the Evanesence-style remix Never Look Back (Reanimated) teeters on the edge.

The Bottom Line: Imagine Kelly Clarkson singing for The Foo Fighters and you start to get the idea of what you're in for with The Nearly Deads, a band that's working their asses off to make it as a modern rock band on their terms, and I have high hopes for them.

- Genghis really did like that zombie video for Never Look Back...