Label: Attack Attack Format: CD
There’s something a little disorienting about this CD right from the off — it uses a different font. Yup, that’s right, gone is the stencilled military-style lettering they’ve been using for… blimey, for about TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS! (Doing a quick bit of mental arithmetic I’ve just frightened myself with the realisation that my first New Model Army gig was some eighteen years ago. I’ll get me slippers). But once you’ve slipped the thing into whatever space-age contrivance you crazy kids use to play music these days, it’s very soon apparent you’re in the right place. “Wired” hits the ground running, with a bass line built on runs and arpeggios which would make Philip Glass shit himself in terror.
A quick note about the difficulty of reviewing a New Model Army album — they’re a band it’s very hard to be objective about. Throughout their career they’ve pretty much polarised opinion- you either love ’em or hate ’em. I’m firmly in the former camp (aside from possibly The Bad Seeds, I don’t think there’s a finer band on the planet, especially live), though my days of hitching to far-away gigs are behind me, partially through age but more down to the fact that as a responsible adult in full-time employment I can now afford public transport.
It’s still a mystery how such a quintessentially English band get so overlooked here, but thrive on the Continent. I’m betting this will fly off the shelves in Germany, for a start, where NMA have always had a pretty solid following. Mind you, over here the people who love them really love them, and it’s not really hard to see why. This, their tenth studio album, shows them doing what they do best- beautifully poetic songs performed with real passion by fantastic musicians. ROCKING, to put it more simply. Lyrically it’s all present and correct, with main man Justin Sullivan still at the top of his game. The real standout for me is “One Of The Chosen”, a look at religious fanaticism from the inside – no judgments here, but an investigation into what can cause intelligent people to separate themselves from society- “There is something in us all that wants to surrender / To be guided through it all like star-eyed children… And here from the inside all the lights are blazing / And the view of the old world is dull and grey and joyless… We are the Holy Fools, we are the fearless”- a mantra screamed over an apocalyptic metal crescendo. Ooh, it’s giving me goosebumps just typing about it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- nobody manages to blend the personal and the political so seamlessly as Mr Sullivan.
The title track’s another good example of this, and of his continuing love affair with the Earth — “The movers move, the shakers shake / The winners rewrite history / But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing”. But it’s not all meditating on nature and knitting yoghurt, far from it. The righteous anger’s never far from the surface, and raises its head in spectacular style on “All Consuming Fire” — “We’ve found a thousand ways to lay waste the planet / And we’re going to use them all / A culture in just two dimensions is all that we require / Because it burns so well, it burns so well / So blazing bright in the all-consuming fire” he spits, disgust dripping from every syllable. Followed immediately by the unbearably gorgeous and sad “Sky In Your Eyes”, this is a one-two punch that could pretty much sell the album on its own.
Sadly, you’ve probably already got your opinion on New Model Army — if you’ve never liked them before, this probably isn’t going to convert you. If, on the other hand, you like them, well then you probably love them and will certainly not be disappointed by this album, which sees them continuing to progress the rawer, more driving sound I thought they’d already perfected on Carnival (but it would appear I was mistaken, and they’ve found a way to make it sound even better). Their next round of UK gigs should certainly be worth catching, as I can’t fucking wait to hear some of this stuff live, in a sea of flailing arms and human pyramids.
Twenty-seven years and still knocking it out of the park. Here’s to another ten albums.
-Deuteronemu 90210 herd u liek mudkips-
