The opener called, er, 'The Opener', is the closest any of their albums have come to capturing the spiritual opener of the fourth album's 'It's Showtime!', the bombastic theatrical darkness feeling like a strong declaration to open the piece, with some catchy quirks to it.
Track two, 'Daddy's Boy', is accompanied by a zombified Trump on its artwork and its difficult not to make the parallels between the song and the current President. Though not throwing any direct accusations like on Senor Smoke's Bush-targeting opener, this is arguably the album's best track and one of the band's best in a long while. With a great thirty-second instrumental opener, a bouncy rhythm, and a 'Green Day'-vibe in parts, this feels like it could be a great live favourite. Throw in some great guitar grunts, the best synth breakdown since Justin Hawkins whipped out 'Girlfriend' on the Darkness' second-album, and some very quotable lines, and you have an instant E6 classic, with music that captures the horror movie feel of the album's theme.
'(It Gets A Little) Jumpy', inspired by Valentine's real-life canine encounter in some woods, keeps the quality high, its Fleetwood Mac-esque opening and country-feeling guitar, making for quite a distinctive sound. With some lyrics that name-check Culture Club and Radiohead, there's much to enjoy here and is the album's biggest grower.
'Safety Girl', with its style-shifts, is another stand-out on the album with its cool swagger in the verses juxtaposing nicely with the gruffly-sung choruses, making it stand out. My only discourse with the track is the use of the word 'spaz', which sits as incongruously here as it did on Weird Al's recent 'Word Crimes' track. I'm perhaps stretching the point slightly, but its difficult for the band to criticise Trump on track two whilst using a term up there with his own awful reaction to disability captured on film. That writing decision aside, the production here is strong and the best weaving in of random filmic quotes since 2008's 'Flashy Man'.
'You're Toast', which seems to have had the accusation of filler thrown at it online, is a grower. With plenty of cow bell and a catchy chorus, thanks to its simplicity, its a basic track but fun enough.
Middle track 'Hades Ladies' is another personal favourite from the album, its building rhythm to its upbeat chorus with its distorted vocals a welcome bit of bravado at this point in the album. The titular track that follows returns to the synthier sounds present elsewhere on the album and proves to be a better track in the studio than live with a very chantable chorus.
Entering the final third of the album and 'Witches Burning' has plenty of energy, whilst 'Full Moon Over the Internet', with its Wonderwall-like guitar, is one of the best songs the band have released, its stripped-back feel, layered vocals and thought-provoking lyrics, culminating in the 'living for likes' hook, make this unskippable. The best song about the internet since Placebo's 'Too Many Friends'.
'Grey Areas' is perhaps the album's weakest entry, but the production keeps its heart-ticking, but closer 'The Worm in the Wood', with its ode to the sixties and classic guitar songs, feels like the album closer we've waited several LPs for. With a chilled out, almost psychedelic vibe, the sombre vibe works well as a wrap up for the album, and I defy you to get the 'I know you feel better when we're taped together' hook out of your head.
An improvement on the OK 'How Dare You' this feels like a strong, consistent album from the band with some strong entries. Perhaps only 'Daddy's Boy' and 'Full Moon on the Internet' would jump from the album to a best-of compilation but as a stand-alone LP I really enjoyed it. Plus, on a side note, the graphic design on this one, and the adapted covers for some of the songs, give this album a bit more polish than we're used to.
Same time next year?
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