Must be over several listens now, and beginning to become familiar.
First thoughts... it's a bit unfamiliar - more Today is a Good Day than Between Dog & Wolf (which is now in my top 2 or 3 NMA albums).
If BDAW was for the drummers then Winter is for the guitarists. The main difference these days of course with the band-in-the-room sound is a 5-piece in contrast to the old 3-piece drum/bass -driven NMA.
Beginnings - Didn't take to this to begin with - thought it should have ended before the drums come in - but it has a See You in Hell vibe to it so glad it develops and is now one of my favourites.
Burn The Castle is hilarious. Found this a bit pirate-rock to begin with (perhaps the source of that scathing Times review?), but really, it's the sound of the Mob isn't it, er, burning down the castle! I just love how Justin spits out "Burn The Castle", i'm expecting swearing but it is stronger than swearing.
Winter is great, been loving this since it came out.
Part The Waters is one of them i'm still trying to figure out the lyrics. Almost a contrasting view to Die Trying perhaps?
When it starts, woa, that's a strange NMA chord? and tremolo guitar? wait a minute Morrissey does those chords not NMA. Haha keeping us on our toes again. Great song. In a way, as it develops reminds me of a Who rock opera. One of my early favourites.
Eyes Get Used to the Darkness - a song full of verses, like Modern Times is. Growing on me more and more.
Drifts. Like this one a lot, bit of a western rhythm and vibe to it. Drums sort of a progression from Lean Back & Fall. Great hook chorus. More unfamiliar territory for NMA. Love it, another favourite.
Born Feral. Really strong song straight away. Hint of recent PJ Harvey about it too. Musically the most interesting track on the album, this will be a favourite to many.
Die Trying. Again another popular one. I love how the guitar sounds slightly out of tune at the beginning. Has a credible live camp fire vibe to it (which was probably the point).
Devil. Another favourite. It has that modern heavy rock production to it. great mix and fantastic hook chorus. Love the guitar/bass runs in the chorus too.
Strogoula / Echo November / Weak and Strong / After Something - less familiar with these due to length of the album.
Echo November is the standout of this bunch, and Weak and Strong too. The start of Echo November reminds me of Kate Bush's "Nocturn" (another great song). But not really sure what the refrain means yet (phonetic alphabet "E""N" Echo November, or just the 2nd sequel to March in September?
).
Only criticism is the length of the album really. Not a fan of long albums, ie more than 10 tracks. I think vinyl was the perfect album length (45 mins), particularly these days as I rarely get chance to sit down and listen to an album longer than that. (my work bus ride 40mins)
Any remaining songs can then be used as b-sides. But saying that, I end up tagging the b-sides onto their albums anyway so my argument falls down there!
Besides maybe NMA just think, rather than messing about keeping songs back like a record company to release as cynical money-making b-sides, they just release the whole album as the project it was. Great work.
So no grumbles really. Love every NMA album and it's fantastic we have another.
