Saturday, 19 July 2025

Dee Calhoun - Angry Old Man (Album Review)

Release Date: July 18th 2025. Record Label: Black Doomba Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Angry Old Man - Tracklisting

1.A Last Cold Kiss 05:04 video

2.Angry Old Man 05:56

3.Voodoo Queen 05:04

4.A Piece From The Shoulder 05:44

5.Rise Up To March 04:15

6.Give Up The Ghost 04:20

7.VVitch (A Chant) 05:24

8.K*ll A M*ther F*cker 05:18

9.The Damned Human Race 08:27


Members


Dee Calhoun - Everything


Review


Dee Calhoun is back with his latest solo album Angry Old Man and for the uninitiated, Dee is considered a bit of a legend within the underground Doom Metal scene thanks to his stints with the legendary band IRON MAN and the excellent Spiral Grave. Dee Calhoun has been focusing upon his solo records for quite some time now blending Americana, Country, Doom, Blues, Stoner and Southern Rock but all told in a highly fashionable Acoustic Rock way.


Dee is also an acclaimed writer over the last few years and he’s got real talent and credibility with how he writes his lyrics that deal with some pretty dark themes even when they branch over into Horror and Fantasy though this record is mostly based on his own observations with the world.


Angry Old Man is quite an in-depth and highly involving record with Dee Calhoun once again used stripped back musical techniques to generate a gloomy and down-trodden atmosphere which some of the most well known figures of the underground scene have used for their own solo material such as WINO and Steve Von Till.


The AMERICANA and DOOMED OUT COUNTRY BLUES is a big aspect on how this album fully moves along at a cracking slow-to-mid pace. The whole record oozes gloomy atmosphere with Dee being quite political throughout but he does offer some superb wry and humorous sly commentary on certain parts of the album.


The music is quite abstract with ghostly sounds and twangy guitars reminding me of Johnny Cash at the best of times especially on tracks such as A Last Cold Kiss, Angry Old Man, Voodoo Queen, Rise Up To The March and K*ll A M*therF*cker. You can detect echoes of other vocalists that have perhaps shaped Dee’s musical knowledge but it’s his forthright confessional style that shows you what a damn fine storyteller Dee has ultimately become. 


Some parts of the album do become DOOM-FOLK obsessed in places but the solitary Americana and Roots based sound keeps things grounded. You can even detect a sense of MONSTER MAGNET gloomy rhymes in certain instrumental melodies that has a slight passing resemblance to the opening intro of SPACE LORD but that could be just me looking way too much into things.


The political message of Angry Old Man runs deep especially with today’s political climate and fucked up turmoil going on in the world and Dee Calhoun becomes more rebellious on the later stages of the record with Dee perhaps taking political cues from Neil Young is no bad thing at all. 


Angry Old Man is another forthright, bleak and outstanding release from Dee Calhoun who is perhaps in the best creative form of his life at the moment and that’s saying something especially with the career that Dee has lived through and ultimately achieved. 


Words by Steve Howe


Links


Facebook | BandCamp