Overspew

As a child Placebo were one of the first bands I saw on a music channel on a rich friend’s TV. They were considered by me to be a mysterious something that must not be listened to lest you be one of these ‘Goths’ I had been hearing about.
Alongside with Korn which was the first of these forbidden pleasures I was to experience I was given a copy of ‘Without you I’m Nothing’, their 1998 album. I had listened to this album on and off for about 4 years and when I started writing my own music and suddenly I couldn’t stop listening to it. I then went out to buy the follow up material immediately. The title track ‘Without You I’m Nothing’ was an unbelievably important song in my musical development as a teenage writer due to it’s harmonic and melodic intelligence despite it’s accessibility as a popular song.

I saw them live at Leeds Festival in 2004 for the first time and it was probably one of the first bands I’d seen and actually enjoyed every song, in other words this band are incredible. I have some proper metal-head friends who slate them due to Molko’s effeminate style but I continue to defend the band’s original writing style.

I have to say that I didn’t expect great things from this album. I had predicted that Placebo would be one of these bands joining the downward spiral of 90’s metal into dumbed-down pop. For some of the album I might just be correct but I’ll go into that later.

First impressions are good.
The first song, ‘Kitty Litter’ is dark and heavy enough to make a hardcore Placebo fan shiver a little (mainly because the majority of fans I’ve met prefer their softer stuff). So I’m liking the direction they’re going with this album so far, a great opening track, decent chanting bridge section to get the crowd going and their energy seems to have changed to a new form similar to Mogwai or something.

Second track is a let-down.
‘Ashtray Heart’ made me feel annoyed that the opening track had led me to believe that this was going to be a good album.
The chorus sounds fit for New Found Glory with a shouty choral section in the background. Infact it sounds a lot like a poppy Rancid song.
So it’s safe to say that I was disappointed with this song.

Now, that’s more like it….
Sweet Jesus this track is blooming superb! It has to be the heaviest, most head banging, grunge-face-pulling placebo song ever!
The evil sounding syncopation in the verses of ‘Battle For The Sun’ build the track up beautifully and push us into a pretty flowery chorus, but we’ll forgive them for that because the verses are just so damn punchy.
And if you thought things couldn’t get any better the whole song is orchestrated to give it that larger sound that I only now realise Placebo needed all these years.

And the rest…
The rest of the album seems to follow this soft song, heavy song, soft song pattern with very few highlights. ‘Julien’ was a surprising track with a nice (almost electro) intro section that kicks into a minor chorus and bridge section (that’s what we metal heads love, ‘Go on play me a minor third…. Ooohhh!’)
Other reviewers have overrated this album I think (Kerrang – KKKK). I suppose when compared to the other releases recently I rate it very highly but when comparing it to their earlier albums there’s just not as much listenablity.
Admittedly I’ve listened to the song ‘Battle For The Sun’ everyday for about 3 weeks as it is one of my favourite tracks (possibly of the last 5 years) which I think saves Placebo from my wrath as a critic. I have an awful lot of respect for Brian Molko’s writing style and their performances this year will be far beyond epic.

I look forward to seeing them again this year at Leeds Festival and hopefully if my press pass comes through I’ll be able to follow this review up with an interview.

Overall this album is no Black Market Music but displays to the fans the two directions the band may head in the future. In this way it could be seen as the ‘Absolution’ for Placebo.

I cannot stress enough how much I’m wishing for more songs like ‘Battle For The Sun’, ‘Taste in Men’ and ‘I Know’. Everybody keep your fingers crossed and maybe we’ll all still be dancing dirty to Placebo in a few years time.

Rating: 7/10

By the by, Origin of Symmetry by Muse was an immensely brilliant album with so many different ideas I would have run out of sticks to shake. Absolution was a sign post indicating that they could get either heavier or more poppy. Why anybody likes Black holes and Revelations is beyond me, what an awful metaphorical ‘out of date’ sticker that was. – honestly I have my fingers crossed that Muse’s next album isn’t another teenage side parting with a fred perry polo shirt on.

Tommy McMahon

Meet the Author on Dead Meet: tommy_the_cat

 

Share this Article: | Subscribe to our articles: | ∧ back to top

 

 

Home
Community
Dating
Partners
Charity

Music
Art
Scene
Articles
Fun

Site
About
Advertise
Work with Us
Link to Us

Site Map
Help
Accessibility
Contact Us
Legal