I can’t imagine one having so-so feelings for The Dead Weather.  The stomping swamp-garage rock will either pitch you into a raving, flailing frenzy or simply screech past your head as you get the hell out of the way.

The Jonathan Grazer directed video for “Treat Me Like Your Mother” only solidifies that fact 6000 times over as Jack White and Alison Mosshart literally come out guns blazing, obliterating any nostalgia for fossilized classic rock through a haze of sub machine gun fire and brilliant suburban sunlight.

As much as I liked isolated moments of The Raconteurs first two albums, I never knew exactly how to react: the influences seemed muddled, the lo-fi elements seemed a little too forced, and most importantly, Jack White’s snarl was subdued.  Yeah, The Dead Weather may be the less agile of the two animals but it makes up for it with a viciously noxious bite, one that doesn’t kill you but leaves your for dead.

Horehound drops today, and I’ll say it again : embrace the thick, pulpy darkness or get the hell out of the way.