We live in troubled times, that’s for sure, and who better to help guide us through the stormy waters, but the troubled mind of Andy Cairns, and the razor-sharp riffs and rhythms of Therapy?
Following on from their 2015 melodic return ‘Disquiet’, ‘Cleave’ (their 15th studio album) is ten tracks of pop-sized angst. Wonderfully focused, downright straining at the leash, and produced with reassuring awesomeness by Chris Sheldon.
Combining heavy riffs and catchy hooks, with the edgy indie vibe of their early 90’s output, ‘Cleave’ is the kind of record that you know is going to be good, but on arrival, exceeds every one of your expectations.
Dealing with a fractured and deluded world climate, Therapy? are in zeitgeist capturing mood, and here within its snappy track-list are spot-on observations and a skilfully agitated musical palette.
‘Wreck It Like Beckett’ and ‘Katistocracy’ pelt from the gates with an adrenaline rush and a social conscious, stating “It’s OK not to be OK…When you’re living through this”, and you’re probably already familiar with the ear-worm of single ‘Callow’.
The venom keeps flying with ‘Expelled’ and ‘Success? Success Is Survival’, with the latter track displaying a muscular groove and the fact that Neil Cooper might just be the most maniacally tight drummer on the planet, and Michael McKeegan’s ever elastic bass gets some serious wah-wah treatment on ‘Save Me from the Ordinary’.
‘Crutch’ shares the same free-wheeling sound that graced the bands earlier songs ‘Die Laughing’ and ‘Tides’, and points towards the nature of addiction, while ‘I Stand Alone’ wallows in its own chugging alienation. When Cairns proclaims “I think you’re on the verge of a nervous breakdown” during ‘Dumbdown’, the frantic guitar wrangling suggests that we may have all reached that same stage.
‘No Sunshine’ offers little hope, but will still have you singing along as you brace yourself to face the world again.
From its brilliant cover image to its vicious but accessible content, ‘Cleave’ really delivers, and despite all the turmoil that the world is in, take comfort in the fact that you now have another great Therapy? record to listen to.
(10/10 Stuart Carroll)
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