Cigarettes & Caffiene Nightmares by The Delta Routine (Album Review)

Album Review: The Delta Routine Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares

The retro rock band The Delta Routine have released today their third album ‘Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares’.  This precedes their US tour, kicking off in their home town of Milwaukee.

Cigarettes & Caffiene Nightmares by The Delta Routine

If you haven’t heard of this band yet think late 60’s into the 70’s rock n’ roll (Bolan and Stones) and for most tracks you are there.

The 11 track album blasts off with the energetic ‘Waste Your Time’ a number reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones.  Following this is the equally energetic (yet weaker for me) ‘Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares’.  The third track takes you in a different much more contemporary direction ‘I Wait Alone’ –cool and bluesy, I loved this track and the way the old school guitar riffs melded with the singing.  Another great track is ‘Switchblade’.  Then there is a tack that I really enjoyed ‘Don’t Wanna Let You Down’ with some great vocals, keyboards and guitar – the vocals have a spooky Oasis like quality but the rest of the music is twenty years earlier. ‘Back To Bed’ is a simple one minute space filler that could have been built into a full track and feels a little bit of a waste.  Then comes ‘New York Avenue’ my favourite track on the album, nothing dated on this one, just a really nice well put together piece that is really commercial (but listen to the clever guitar work in the background…) – you’ll want to play this one again and again.  Then with ‘Oh No’ you are plunged back into good old rock and roll with organ, guitars and a pretty catchy tune.  Two more good rock tracks then follow ‘Rachael St Joe’ and ‘Around Your Neck’. The final track was the pretty average ‘People Like You’ which to be frank would have been better not on the album and would not have been missed.

The album cover is pretty cool too – I would swear that I had the same carpet back in the 80’s.  ‘Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares’ was recorded in Milwaukee and produced by Mike Hoffmann whose production credits include The Verve, Pipe, Willie Porter and Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes), among others. The band is comprised of lead singer/rhythm guitar player Nick Amadeus, bassist Evan Paydon, lead guitarist Victor Buell IV, keyboardist Al Kraemer and drummer Kyle Ciske.

While critics have favorably compared some of their previous work to the likes of The Stones, The Black Crowes and The Strokes, what really emerges on ‘Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares’ is the sound of a fully-realised band with their own distant voice in an all too homogenised rock scene. Overall a good third album and worth adding to your collection if you like rock music and your heart is in the early 70’s of that genre.

Tour Dates