Placebo - Battle for the Sun
Rating
RIYL
MuseGarbage
Depeche Mode
My Bloody Valentine
Release Date
06/08/2009
Label
Vagrant RecordsTracklist
1. Kitty Litter2. Ashtray Heart
3. Battle for the Sun
4. For What it’s Worth
5. Devil in the Details
6. Bright Lights
7. Speak in Tongues
8. The Never-Ending Why
9. Julien
10. Happy You’re Gone
11. Breathe Underwater
12. Come Undone
13. Kings of Medicine
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It seems that after thirteen years, Placebo have decided that their best music is what they’ve been playing all along, and after five commercially successful, if not blockbuster, full-lengths, it’s hard to argue with their logic. From the first gritty chords of “Kitty Litter”, Battle for the Sun is obviously a Placebo record, even before Brian Molko’s signature high-pitched, nasal drone begins into a record that doesn’t cast away the grim themes that dominated Placebo’s previous work, but rather frames them in a more positive perspective. Sadly, this doesn’t make his lyrics any better as they were when they were more morose, as they’re still found diving off a hokey high board into the overly-dramatic deep end.
Like Meds that came before it, Battle for the Sun has David Bottrill doing the production work, and with numerous Tool albums under his belt, along with some questionable hard rock bands, he’s a big reason behind the continued effort towards the heavier sound and crunchier textures on some of the earlier tracks in the album.
As the record weaves its way through the plodding repetition of the title track, to the ascending synthesizer on “Bright Lights” that leads into the steel drums of “Speak in Tongues,” and to the ominous violin on “Julien,” the band is doing their best to keep things fresh, and on “Kings of Medicine,” they wrap up the album with some enthusiastic trumpeting, a first for the band. Battle for the Sun is a strong effort as an album on its own, but taken as the next addition to Placebo’s catalogue, it feels too familiar to their previous work to really make an impact. Honestly, the most surprising part about this album is not the music, but the label that released it. Placebo has always been a major label band, so to see them make the move to Vagrant, a label established by punk stalwarts Face to Face, is a big step for a label that has slowly been moving into the big leagues.
This is a Placebo who is comfortable with themselves and with their music, who know who their fans are and know what their fans want to hear. If you count yourself among that group, this could easily become one of your favourite Placebo albums. If not, keep moving, nothing to hear here.
--Greg Burchell
Comments
Coopersburg, PA
I love this band but haven't heard this yet, definitely really odd they're on Vagrant now, but I'm curious to hear this.
Leeds, England
I'm a big Placebo fan, but this is so genreric and flavourless.