ALBUM REVIEW: Dead Poet Society – ‘Fission’

Apropos for a band with that name in particular, Fission feels like a real coming of age for Dead Poet Society. You’d never have predicted that so close to their debut -!-, but it’s evidently how things are supposed to play out. All narratives around Dead Poet Society have been that they’re unpredictable, with their fretless guitars and an attitude that’s (apparently) freshening up mainstream rock. The ideas have been pushed, sure, but they’re rarely visible in practice. Because, as a fine, standardly functional approximation of your everyday riff-rock components, ‘innovative’ would be one of the last words you’d associate with that first album.

Fission, on the other hand, is a totally different animal. Maybe not one that’s top of the food chain yet, but it certainly has no qualms in dominating its prey if need be. It’s the main issue left unaddressed in this sector of hard rock and alt-rock, where Badflower or cleopatrick might have a superficial edge to them, but without the muscle to back it up. Dead Poet Society, meanwhile, have loosed a completely devastating rebuttal to all of that on Fission. And it really is as easy as that, when this much improvement has been made from a guitar tone used more productively. It’s quite simply incomparable to everything in its space, the hulking lovechild of early Royal Blood and later Mastodon that consistently awes on sheer might alone. And so naturally, the main focus track is My Condition, as the raring-for-radio concession that lacks any comparable impressiveness in its brighter gang-vocals and chipper indie-rock presentation. On an album that can already feel its length, it’s the most obvious bit of chaff here. What’s worse is that Running In Circles or Tipping Point could’ve easily done the same job, while serving as cleaner nexuses that don’t lop off most of what’s so intriguing about Dead Poet Society.

And besides, when this is the sound you’re trafficking in, why would you want to compromise that at all? It’s easily the best and most empowered that Dead Poet Society have ever sounded, and thankfully the squandering of it is in the minority. A wise choice when that’s the band’s greatest asset, and a demonstration of Jack Collins’ consummate riff-smithery. The mystical fretless guitar is the source of that power, from which flows the thick, black mire that’s a total irresistible force. Melded to similarly full-fat basswork, the core of Fission is unsurprisingly great, in an objective sense for simply how much gets drawn towards it at every possible appearance. Songs like Hard To Be God and KOET stand out most there, as the kind of songs that (possible father figures) Royal Blood promised but seldom delivered on—grimy and nasty in every instrumental tone, and a carnal rock experience that sees its bare, cut-back pieces as the keenest of advantages.

On top of that, Fission succeeds in sounding modern in a way that these bands reach for, and often struggle to grip. It’s that hip-hop-adjacent snappiness that regularly seeps through, but is a lot better integrated by Dead Poet Society here, as a benefit of having those core essentials to work with and reshape as they see fit. I hope you hate me. is an absolute triumph compared to similar bands’ ‘groove-driven’ outings, weaponising its tautness and bass-heavy stalk that’s dangerously inclement at all times to wind up streets ahead. And it’s that dichotomy of ideals—simultaneously overwhelming at spots while being tight and precise in others, often within the same small space—that’s Fission’s clearest M.O. Just a couple of years ago, Dead Poet Society were a band locked in the same revival-rock doldrums as so many other unfortunate souls; now, they’re actively making good on the many frittered promises to do something ridiculously cool with it.

And don’t worry, programmers of Generic Local US Radio-Rock FM—this is still plenty accessible. Jack Underkofler is to thank for that, a vocalist with no small resemblance to Nothing But Thieves’ Conor Mason, though with arguably a better platform to sell it. He’s got insane range to begin with, that goes without saying, but in crafting a source of greater melody and fluidity in these songs, his deeper contributions don’t go unnoticed. The lyrics themselves are…nothing special, but you do get the impression that that end of things was on the back-burner to begin with. Fission is all about rock music blown out to its most incredible scale while also remaining confined and sharp, and in a way, Underkofler is the perfect microcosm of that within the rest of it. The hollering bluster frequently sits close to a smaller, more delicate vocal that, in the wrong hands, would tip distressingly close to irony-pilled modern rock mush. Thankfully, it doesn’t. And that’s good.

Though, it’s hard to escape the feeling that, in a past life, Dead Poet Society would be all over something like that. Even on Fission itself, you could well imagine the confluence of the current rock climate and TikTok’s overlording influence to put this into plenty of the expected spaces. But Dead Poet Society aren’t building themselves specifically for that; it’s just something that might come with the territory. Once upon a time, perhaps, but it goes without saying that the fact they’re in a much better place here is a huge win. It’s not something you’d have necessarily expected after -!-, but growth is growth, and this is fairly undeniable. Fission really is the best possible outcome—a band staying true to their previously-paved creative road, deciding for themselves where to go, and cleaning house as a result. John Keating would be so proud.

For fans of: Nothing But Thieves, Highly Suspect, Royal Blood

‘Fission’ by Dead Poet Society is released on 26th January on Spinefarm Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall