Been a while since I have posted, and I never rush to a conclusion on a new NMA album, because I have to listen many times before I hear them, if that makes sense.
Having had it on continual rotation since it (and the awesome t-shirt) arrived on release day, I now feel I can make my initial assessment.
Firstly, from the promotional snippets the band are using, I am delighted to see them get some music media/critical recognition. It is long overdue, and if this is the album that generates the praise they deserve as artists and musicians, then I am thankfull for it.
But this is not the best album of their career.
Nor does it evoke Pink Floyd, Nick Cave, or any other such comparison being floated and quoted.
Nor is it a particularly new, or different sound for them in my opinion.
For me, it is a return to, and furtherance of, a sound and emotional palette first flirted with on Strange Brotherhood, and then established with 'Eight'.
The production is lush, but maybe a little too luxurious at times, and I think it diminishes the power and directness of Justin's delivery. I like being able to hear the spittle in his s's, even in quieter moments, but its not here.
There is also a distinct absence of build, or crescendo to the songs. The 'NMA money shot' as I like to call it. Compare Horsemen to Red Earth, for example. The moment in Red Earth where the guitars pounce and the anger soars is just magnificent. Horsemen canters on its drums but never reaches the gallop it needs to finish the race.
The only time they try a finalé is on Stormclouds, but its just a jarring tacked on 10 second thrashout. There is no catharsis for the listener.
As to subject matter, when I listen to Justin's lyrics, they always seem authentic. I have no idea if he is a keen sailor, or has visited North American Indian reserves, or Nepalese mountain Temples, or faced off against police in protest lines, but his lyrics make me believe he has with the veracity of the emotions he evokes.
But here we have a song, written in the first person, By Evel Knievel. Its actually one of my favourite songs on the album, but its an uneasy feeling listening to this band eulogise a guy who spent most of his life as an alcoholic misogynist hiding behind a clean-cut all-American persona, until he beat a journalist half to death with a baseball bat for exposing the facade. I mean sure, he was fearless and uncompromising and all that, but the guy was also an asshole.
I think its the first time I can remember where I have heard an NMA song that felt like it wasnt written from the heart, but rather as a literary exercise.
Elsewhere, little is standing out, or really speaking to me. The title track is strong, and I can see it as one of the only songs presented that could possibly translate to a live setting without radical reworking.
And yet, even though the individual songs leave me underwhelmed, I cant stop listening to it
I have yet to work out if its because it is a whole greater than the sum of its parts, or if I am subconciously aware of a greatness that I am looking to unlock with perseverance. Time will tell.
8/10 for me. A good interesting album, but from NMA, 'good' after High and TIAGD feels very underwhelming.
