MANIC STREET PREACHERS – THE ULTRA VIVID LAMENT
THREE decades on from their incendiary debut, Manic Street Preachers are not likely to spring any surprises.
The songs on this 14th studio album stick to the template laid down on 1996's Everything Must Go, the first one after Richey Edwards disappeared, and will suit being played at arenas on their autumn tour.
However, there is some variety: radio-friendly single The Secret He had Missed, features vocals from Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean, Orwellian and Afterending display a clear ABBA influence. Echo & The Bunnymen and REM are also referenced, while grunge titan Mark Lanegan guests on Blank Diary Entry.
The lyrics are customarily diverse: The Secret He Had Missed is about Welsh artists Augustus and Gwen John, Orwellian tackles the culture wars, while Don't Let The Night Divide Us warns: "Don't let those boys from Eton suggest that we are beaten."
Rating:4/5
Matthew George
IRON MAIDEN – SENJUTSU
SEVENTEEN albums in, Iron Maiden are arguably the most consistent proponents of British heavy metal. Their recent success, as the core members settle into their mid-60s, can be attributed to a deft balance between experimentation and knowing exactly what their substantial fanbase wants.
Double album Senjutsu hits that sweet spot with ease. Recorded in 2019 at Guillaume Tell studios in Paris, the band have kept the album under lock and key since.
Frontman Bruce Dickinson remains an immovable force and recorded some of the record on crutches after rupturing his Achilles tendon. His voice is as strong as ever despite treatment for a tumour on his tongue in 2015.
Side one contains a six-song suite of galloping metal, sometimes edging into power ballad territory.
Side two, meanwhile, features four sprawling tracks, including the nearly 13-minute The Parchment, a beast that slowly builds from an exotic sounding melody into a mass of squealing guitars.
Rating: 4/5
Alex Green
BAD WAITRESS – NO TASTE
IF YOU like your punk hard, fast and politically-inclined then Toronto four-piece Bad Waitress are for you.
On their debut album, No Taste, bandmembers Katelyn Molgard, Nicole Cain, Kali-Ann Butala and Moon deliver socially conscious yet playful lyricism against a backdrop of mutating, thrashy rock.
This idea is best executed on Strawberry Milkshake which, on the surface, is a saccharine and flirtatious invitation.
Under the surface, however, is a complex and sarcastic study in sexual politics and power play.
Live In Reverse is a classic breakup song and the quietest track on the album, despite having a grungy chorus that builds into a crashing wall of sound, while Delusions of Grandeur, with its repeat of "I'm just an animal" channels Sonic Youth in its noisy experimental spirit.
Bad Waitress has been gestating as a project since 2014 and this seven-year run-up time has allowed the group to deliver a debut album that has a coherent and distinct identity.
Rating: 4/5
Alex Green
SUUNS – THE WITNESS
THE Witness is undoubtedly the most chilled out and reflective album to emerge from the Suuns camp in their decade recording together.
The Montreal outfit's previous four albums have been simultaneously introspective and aggressive, mixing industrial electronics with Ben Shemie's moody vocals and throbbing guitar.
On their latest release the band meander towards something more proggy and at times funky.
The Witness listens like one long undulating song, transitioning from Pink Floyd-esque psychedelia to the trance-pop of fellow Canadian star Caribou, ending with the spacey wig-outs Go To My Head and The Trilogy.
Now a three-piece following the departure of bassist and keyboardist Max Henry as a full-time member in 2018, it seems natural that the band would adopt a more stripped-back sound.
It could be argued that previous Suuns records have prioritised aesthetics over feeling.
The Witness finds a comfortable balance between the two.
Rating: 3/5
Alex Green
