Los Frankies – D.E.D City (Licorice Pizza) (13th Floor Album Review)

LA band Los Frankies – titled as such because two of their members are called Frankie – are dropping their debut album, D.E.D City. Noticed for their attitude and swagger amongst a fairly bustling scene, the band aims to celebrate the wild side of rock music. And you’ll find plenty of that on this outing.

Firing up D.E.D City, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d dug out one of the early albums from The Hives (perhaps one of the original Burning Heart releases – before they packaged them together for that album that was a quintessential staple of the early noughties). It’s loud, it’s rough and there’s rhythmic shouting. Oh, and the vocals? Distorted. I’m On Drugs, while not cleverly titled, gave me a pretty good idea of what I thought I might be getting myself into on this ten-track LP. 

The album then carries on to flip-flop between garage-rock revival and songs that have such an influence to Queens of the Stone Age (or that Wolfmother album that everyone was thrashing in 2006) that it would be difficult – if not impossible – to miss. There’s also a littering of Fat Wreck Chords punk in there. Regardless of which you end up listening to, the guitar work will be fairly gritty – but you’ll find some enjoyable lead work amongst the edgy power chords. And there’s only a few moments where there is not distortion added to the vocal track. I will give front man Frankie A Salazar credit for the ruthless aggression he commits as he sings. Kick the Stool and Company Man shows us how much this man can howl.

While D.E.D City is an assault on the ears, the lyrics don’t leave you feeling quite so stimulated. Los Frankies tend to dip into the cliché a bit too often. The titles of many of the songs do not suggest Thom Yorke level of sophistication (the lead single is called Gunna Wanna…), but there were a few lines I wasn’t particularly whelmed with. Dog City starts by calling the listener a bitch and, despite a few puns that are mildly clever, it doesn’t get much better from there. The chorus itself is especially bleak lyricism. I understand their need wish to celebrate the wild side of rock. In 2026, I’m not sure that’s the lyric to do it. They’re not all of that caliber though, both Sugar Town and Holy Games certainly have more substance to them.

Surprisingly the album turns down the volume and energy from eleven for the final two tracks on the album. We’re given the very morose and melancholic ballad, Death To The King. I really like the change of pace; it’s slow, gloomy and hauntingly melodic. Less can be said for Far Away (S.F.S.C). I actively wish for bands to explore a range of sounds on an album, but this feels like a whole different group has been accidentally included in the release. As a closer, I don’t feel it leaves us with a decent aftertaste of what this band has forced down our throat throughout the initial nine tracks. 

Los Frankies have given us a hard-hitting debut. It’s loud, gritty and reeks of noughties influences. Coming in at about thirty minutes, there’s plenty of attitude to sink your teeth into. And enough vocal melody over the distortion to stay around in your head afterwards. It will be interested to see how they progress as a band. 

Daniel Edmonds

D.E.D City is out today via Licorice Pizza Records.