Again working with Alan Moulder but now also using a live drummer on most tracks -- namely Monti from Curve, one of the Mary Chain's many descendants -- the Reids came back strong with Honey's Dead, on balance a more consistent and satisfying record than Automatic. There's a sense of greater creativity with the arrangements, while the balance between blasting static rampage and precise, almost clinical delivery is the finest yet, making the album as a whole the best straight-through listen since Psychocandy. Monti's drumming finally replaces Bobby Gillespie's properly; he's a much more talented musician than the Primal Scream overlord, using the warped funk hits familiar from Curve's work to the Mary Chain's advantage. Even the drum machine-driven cuts work better than before, especially the brilliant, coruscating opener, Reverence. Burning with some of the best nails-on-chalkboard feedback the band had yet recorded, combined with a whipsmart sharp breakbeat, all it took was the finishing touch of Jim Reid's sneering lines like "I wanna die like Jesus Christ" to make it another stone-cold classic single from the band. Other winners include Sugar Ray, with beats and melody so immediate and addictive the track was actually used for a beer commercial, of all things, and the steady slap and crunch of Good for My Soul. If there's a danger in Honey's Dead, it's that the near bottomless pit of reworked melodies and lyrics had almost reached its end -- even the final track, Frequency, combines both Reverence itself with the Modern Lovers' Roadrunner -- which made the stylistic shift on Stoned Dethroned a logical follow-up. William and Jim Reid split all the vocals almost evenly, the former especially shining on the nearly gentle Almost Gold, the closest the record comes to a sweet ballad. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi

1		Reverence
2		Teenage Lust
3		Far Gone and Out
4		Almost Gold
5		Sugar Ray
6		Tumbledown
7		Catchfire
8		Good for My Soul
9		Rollercoaster
10		I Can't Get Enough
11		Sundown
12		Frequency

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