Shapes of Screams review: Genius in absurdity

It's hard to put your finger on exactly why Lostalone aren't regular stadium fillers by this point, the release date of their third album, Shapes of Screams. They've had the songs since their debut record, as anyone who's heard Blood Is Sharp or Love Will Eat Your Alive will testify, and there's an almost Muse-esque quality about their live performances, full of flair and showmanship. They've got an impressive list of famous fans too, having been hand picked to support bands as huge as Paramore, 30 Seconds To Mars and My Chemical Romance on sold out arena tours. Even if the Derbyshire trio never achieve the mainstream success they so blatantly deserve, they can at least be proud of Shapes of Screams, their most ambitious record to date and undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year so far.

It's clear from the very first song on Shapes of Screams that the band has undergone an impressive musical evolution since the release of their 2012 second album I'm a UFO in this City, a record which, while full of polished, finely crafted rock songs, was by no means a genre game changer. Shapes of Screams is something else however, it writes a new chapter in the rock n' roll rulebook by combining the absurd pomp of the finest 80's glam rock with more violent, hardcore elements to create something which has genuinely never been tried before. This is no more apparent than on Crusaders, the first track, which merges the distorted riffs of previous Lostalone songs such as Did You Get What You Prayed For with a synth-infused chorus complete with marching drums and pop-punk bass lines. And that's not to mention the wobbling vocal effects, lullaby inspired ending and a section which seems to musically reference as many legendary guitarists as the band could come up with, from BB King to Brian May. What's quite extraordinary is that this colossal level of experimentation isn't limited to just one song, it's consistent of the whole record. Take the synthpop melody of Mental Health, or the off beat funk metal of Apathy, or the Christian choir employed to such great effect on Requiem, this album simply has it all. Influence from May's band Queen is still more apparent here than on their previous efforts, from falsetto guitar solos to harmonised choruses which even Freddie Mercury would have been proud of, but there are elements of Muse, My Chemical Romance and just about every 80's stadium rock band ever to have existed on display too.

More than simply its massive experimentation and phenomenal ambition, the true success of Shapes of Screams is that by combining such a huge range of ideas and influences, Lostalone have managed to record an album which actually works. It would have been all too easy for the record to have become as bloated and unlistenable as so many early experimental albums, but this is never the case on Shapes of Screams. The rooting of the album in the brilliant but beaten-track songs of I'm a UFO in this City allows for the experimentation to take place without preventing the tracks from being cohesive rock songs; there are no twenty five minute epics without melody or structure and the album remains a highly ambitious piece of work without becoming a caricature or travesty.

Shapes of Screams could be the most ambitious album of the year so far, but the real beauty of the record is that it surpasses success in every one of its lofty aspirations. It's catchy, memorable and striking original, enough to give you goosepimples and force you stop whatever you're doing to give it your full attention, a rare achievement given the huge supply of generic popular music around. A true cynic might call its unapologetically epic style ridiculous, but perhaps its ridiculousness is what makes it special. Either way, I could find no way of faulting Shapes of Screams, Lostalone have set the standard for 2014, and it's going to take something quite spectacular to top it.

10/10  

Salem's Lot review: Flawed ambition with added vampires

After the unprecedented success of his terrifying and tightly-woven first novel Carrie, you'd have forgiven the young writer Stephen King for knocking out a carbon copy for his next effort. But King shocked every critic with Salem's Lot, a far longer and more complex work, albeit equally thematically black hearted and full of gore. It was a stunningly ambitious book for such an inexperienced author, and while Salem's Lot isn't always successful it remains a tense and enjoyable read almost forty years on.

Ben Mears, a moderately successful writer, returns to his childhood home of the small Maine town Salem's Lot to begin a new novel. Of course, this calm and tranquil setting is far to good to be true, as Ben realises that the town is gradually being infiltrated by vampires.
While Carrie was remarkably and arrestingly original for a debut novel, Salem's Lot treads very familiar ground indeed. Clear influence is taken from stories such as the classic Dracula, with even direct references being regularly made. It's key themes too have been well explored in the past, with its principle vision of life in an American small town having inspired countless authors before King. It even makes no attempt to distort the classic cliché of the vampires themselves; King's bloodsuckers are as ancient as Dracula or Count Oarlock; susceptible to the usual suspects of crosses, holy water and a good stake through the heart.

So what makes Salem's Lot special, more than just another Nosferatu rehash or Dracula copycat? Primarily, it's the characters. King wields an impressive grasp over a cast of dozens, and while the sheer number of people is at times to vast to keep up with, the development of the principle characters is strong enough to forgive the inevitable cut-out minors. King gives up seemingly endless pages to creating connections between the reader and characters through developing an understanding of their psychologies and histories, leading to some of the most memorable figures of King's career, particularly the tragic and unstable Mears. However, as the author's first attempt at a long novel the character development becomes too prominent, making the book extremely slow and almost tedious during the early stages. It's inconsistently paced too, with relatively little rising action before an explosive crescendo of violence in the final hundred pages or so. While King's descriptions of small town life; the playground fight; the never-ending gossip and prejudice; are superb and undoubtedly drawn from personal experience, the story simply lacks enough real action to sustain interest until the end.

It's not quite as well written as Carrie, largely due to the increased number of characters to cope with and the unfortunate pacing (particularly noticeable because of how excellent Carrie's was), but King's style is still very much intact. Particularly towards the ending, there's sublime use of tension to keep you literally on the edge of your seat and moments of shocking, almost perverse violence. It's certainly no story for the faint of heart; skulls are cracked and hearts ruptured with a reckless abandon, but this does help to make up for the book's more monotonous sections.

It's unfortunate that such clear ambition is let down by issues which could have been easily averted with a good editor, but Salem's Lot is still brilliantly scary and generally entertaining. It's by no means a game changer, but its strong characters and brutal ultra-violence are a benchmark in the crowded vampire subgenre.

7/10

The 25 best Muse songs

With my favourite band Muse hitting their 20th anniversary (you what?) this year, what a pleasant idea I thought it would be to cherry pick my ten favourite songs by the Devonshire trio to post on this blog. After some minutes of crying and ripping out my hair (for the most part metaphorically speaking), that list grew to fifteen, twenty and eventually twenty five classic tracks. It's not perfect, and it's inevitably missing a few from limited space, but here you go: for me the twenty five greatest Muse songs of all time.

25. Dead Star
A rare example of Muse at full on metal mode, Dead Star's driving riff and polished chorus make for one of the band's heaviest and most unhinged songs.
Find it: Dead Star Single (2002)

24. Map of Your Head
Similar in many ways to the brilliant Unintended,  Matt Bellamy takes the style of The Smiths in the song's dark lyrics sung over an infectious, sugar sweet acoustic melody.
Find it: Hullabaloo Soundtrack (2002)


23.  Supremacy
The Bond theme that never was, Supremacy's explosive, pompous stomp and ludicrously high vocals are doubtless the highlight of The 2nd Law.
Find it: The 2nd Law (2012)

22. Time is Running Out
Perhaps the finest pop nugget from an impressive arsenal of classics, Time is Running Out's polished, progressive chorus helped push the band into mega-stardom on their third album proper Absolution.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

21. Falling Down
Before their lyrical themes turned interstellar, Muse wrote this wonderful anthem for the disaffected youth in which Bellamy paints a bizarre picture of destroying the small town the group grew up in.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

20. Sing For Absolution
And on the album where the lyrics did hit the stars, this floating, piano led classic stands out as the band's greatest ballad. "Sing for absolution, I will be singing".
Find it: Absolution (2004)

19.  Sunburn
"Come waste your millions here" begins the first song on debut album Showbiz, a track which hinted of the band's prog influences in its recurring piano ostinato moving dreamily into a heavier guitar based chorus and solo.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

18. Invincible
Another superb, progressive ballad, Invincible is a hidden gem as one of the more understated tracks on the epic Black Holes and Revelations.
Find it: Black Holes and Revelations (2006)

17. Blackout
Much has been made of the similarities between Muse and Radiohead over the years, and while Blackout could have been a standout on any post-OK Computer record, it comes with a stunning identity of its own as an early example of the orchestral influences which would eventually bring the band to write the phenomenal Exogenesis Symphony.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

16. Muscle Museum
Of all the songs Muse have cut from their live setlists over their career, Muscle Museum could well be the most unfortunate loss; it's a stellar track perhaps overshadowed by its legendary "guitar solo" which is actually sung.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

15. Resistance

The almost-title track on the band's fifth album, Resistance evolves from a Pet Shop Boys influenced synthpop opening to its stunning chorus "love is our resistance" in one of their best tracks of recent years.
Find it: The Resistance (2009)

14. Unintended
The stunningly rare occasions of genuine love songs in Muse's career rarely mark the band's finest hours, but this simple acoustic anthem from their first album remains a fan favourite to this day and is a shining example of a band retaining their power while stripped of distortion and hundred-watt amps.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

13. Hysteria
Aside from Plug In Baby, Hysteria is perhaps the song most synonymous with Muse's sound. As the lead single on classic third album Absolution, Hysteria sees the band managing brilliantly to write a guitar song for bass, resulting in an iconic riff and the ever catchy chorus of "I want it all, give me your heart and your soul".
Find it: Absolution (2004)

12. Bliss
Cited by Matt Bellamy as his favourite of the band's songs, Bliss's soft keyboard arpeggios smash into a headbanging guitar riff in a track summed up perfectly by the NME as "perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else's happiness into your own brain".
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

11. Thoughts of a Dying Atheist
A brilliantly meditative piece dissecting the confusion and fear of death inevitably present due to a lack of faith in an afterlife, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist is an example of superb observational lyricism supported by a great guitar melody and possibly the best solo in Bellamy's huge arsenal.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else’s happiness into your own brain.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/20-best-muse-songs-as-voted-by-you#hI7ax6HkmJdLZoYu.99

perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else’s happiness into your own brain.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/20-best-muse-songs-as-voted-by-you#hI7ax6HkmJdLZoYu.99

perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else’s happiness into your own brain.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/20-best-muse-songs-as-voted-by-you#hI7ax6HkmJdLZoYu.99

10. Ruled by Secrecy
Muse are at their best when flirting with brilliant prog insanity, and Ruled by Secrecy is doubtless one of the greatest examples of this rule. The song somehow finds a way for its simple drum beat and bass line to become an explosive wall of grand-piano dominated sound before fading into the sound of a beating heart in a short few minutes of music. Described by Bellamy as being about "this man who's come back from work and he's just shot everyone and killed everyone, and he's come back to his wife with a load of blood all over his hands going 'I've just blown it ... I lost it ... I lost the plot", it's clear that despite it's rich and textured music the song remains one of the band's darkest moments.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

9. New Born
As the opener to second album Origin of Symmetry, it seemed clear from the first few seconds of tinkley grand piano that the band had simply produced a carbon copy of debut album Showbiz. But moments later, New Born introduces a new era in a hail of distorted riffology and that screamed chorus "destroy the spineless."
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

8. Falling Away With You
The softest, most tentative song on this list, Falling Away With You is the band's most intimate moment, with Matt Bellamy whispering his vocals over a snail's pace acoustic movement. It's completed by some of their finest lyrics too, "staying awake to chase a dream, tasting the air you're breathing in" and "all of the love we left behind, watching the flashbacks intertwine, memories I will never find" being particularly thoughtful highlights. One of just three tracks Muse have never played live, we can only hope for a concert debut in the near future.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

7. Exogenesis: Symphony
Exogenesis is Muse at their preposterous, absurd best; a twelve minute piece divided into three movements played by a 40-piece orchestra telling the story of humanity leaving earth to populate another planet. It's easy to dismiss as ludicrously bloated just by its name, but its excessive nature actually presents the band's most meticulous and complex composition influenced by artists as widespread as Chopin, Rachmaninov and Pink Floyd. A true spine tingle.
Find it: The Resistance (2009)

6. Butterflies and Hurricanes
The centrepiece of the classic Absolution, Butterflies and Hurricanes rifles through sections as varied as a massive rock chorus and a romantic piano interlude in a song often cited as among the band's greatest works. Butterflies and Hurricanes is in some ways a spiritual successor to the greater still Citizen Erased; phenomenally beautiful and complex in its musical movements and yet still catchy and exciting.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

5. Space Dementia
We enter the top five with a song of suitably epic proportions; with a title referring to a mental condition caused by long spells spent in outer space, Space Dementia never aimed to be anything less than gigantic. With hammered piano the band would later adapt for Ruled by Secrecy and twisting, distorted guitar melodies, Space Dementia is one of the finest examples of modern prog and is a true experience to hear for the first time.
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

4. Knights of Cydonia
A song as complex and instrumental as Space Dementia or Butterflies and Hurricanes, Knights of Cydonia was a change in direction for Muse's epics in that's it's composed almost entirely around distorted guitar riffs. Taking elements from Queen's I Want To Break Free, early use of synthesisers and even the Doctor Who theme tune, Knights... has become one of the band's signature songs; the brilliant acapella call of "no one's gonna take me alive, the time has come to make things right, you and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive" seemingly designed for stadiums while the headbanging riff that follows it is perhaps the group's most memorable.
Find it: Black Holes and Revelations (2006)

3. Plug in Baby
Our big three begins with one of THE greatest riffs of all time; Plug in Baby's shrieking guitar opening is surely the most iconic musical moment in Muse history. It's not a one trick pony either, it's a brilliantly tight and well crafted rock song, which is even more impressive when you consider that it was apparently recorded while the whole band were on hallucinogenic mushrooms. The band's most successful song when it was released as the lead single for Origin of Symmetry, the track has remained a true fan favourite and has been played at almost every Muse concert since.
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

2. Citizen Erased
The Muse-Radiohead comparisons are at their strongest by far on this legendary Origin of Symmetry cut, because Citizen Erased is, without a doubt, Muse's Paranoid Android. And while the similarities between the two are there to be seen; multiple movements, contrasting sections of phenomenal volume and slow, chordal progressions, Citizen Erased is very much a song of its own. Opening with an explosion of funk metal, the piece builds into a colossal synth-chorus followed by electric arpeggios, a pounding guitar solo and a tantalizing acoustic chord progression. Fitting so many musical elements into 7 minutes is no mean feat, but the real success of Citizen Erased is in managing to turn so many distinct sections into one complete, perfect piece. It's at the very least a true equal to Radiohead's classic OK Computer opus.
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

1. Stockholm Syndrome
With an opening riff that sounds like a terrifying cross-breed between The Prodigy and System of a Down, Stockholm Syndrome is a heavy metal explosion which instantly sets itself far apart from most of the band's songs. As its tectonic riff reaches its climax, there's a sudden transition into one of the band's most striking choruses, as the violent guitar is overshadowed by a soft, beautiful keyboard melody before the band rev the engines and kick into the riff once again. Stockholm Syndrome is a shot of pure adrenaline, a burst of energy which remains fixed in the memory long after it's five minutes of total power come to an end. And it's completed by the most monstrous and original breakdown of the group's career to close a song which can, truly, be called Muse's best. And of course, when you play the chorus backwards you'll hear Matt singing "please save the night wind and high above, I lost to love". It wouldn't be Muse without the occasional hidden message, would it?
Find it: Absolution (2004)

I put some time and thought into this, but I'm sure you all completely disagree. Shocked by the lack of Supermassive Black Hole, Uprising or Neutron Star Collision (just kidding)? Insulted by Plug in Baby not being top? Leave a comment here.

Humbug review: Subtle improvements

Clearly tired of the Sheffield-infused rock of their first two records, in 2009 the Arctic Monkeys decamped to Los Angeles and recruited Queens of the Stone Age legend Josh Homme as producer to record their third album, Humbug. An obvious departure from their earlier work, the record was met with mixed acclaim on its release, but five years on Humbug can be regarded as one of the band's finest moments; musically richer and lyrically more intelligent than either of their previous efforts.

For Humbug, the Monkeys ditched the infectious choruses and pop-esque hooks which dominated both Whatever People Say... and Favourite Worst Nightmare; There's no shout of "well I bet that you look good on the dancefloor", no "see you later innovator" or "Dorothy was right though", in fact the only thing that comes close is the melancholy wail of "your past times consisted of the strange, twisted and deranged" on lead single Crying Lightning. Similarly, the music is less catchy, often rapidly changing time signature to produce an almost disconcerting sound-certainly not hits built for the arena tours which came with the band's newfound fame. It's not necessarily a bad thing however, as despite being less catchy many of Humbug's tracks are simply better than those which preceded them. Equipped with a more impressive range of musical techniques and influences brought on by both Homme's wide experience and the Monkey's past songwriting efforts, songs like Secret Door merge Homme's slower, more considered style with the Monkey's traditionally louder and more violent elements to become more expressive and intelligent than their individual parts. It's not without its occasional dud, but by and large this coming together of two very different musical parties is exceptionally effective. It's not a total departure either; the distorted riffs are still very much alive, and the organ used on Pretty Visitors is an almost direct homage to the Favourite Worst Nightmare classic 505.

And with this new musical breadth and depth, it's unsurprising that frontman Alex Turner's lyrics were forced to adapt too. Abandoning the homespun observation of Whatever People Say and the more generic wordplay of Favourite Worst Nightmare resulted in some of the band's most poetic efforts to date, from Secret Door's "fools on parade cavort and carry on for waiting eyes" to Pretty Visitor's John Cooper Clarke inspired "what came first, the chicken or this dickhead"? The finest moment comes in the form of Cornerstone however, a haunting ballad dark in its story of tragically lost love and a victim totally unable to move on. Despite the more advanced musicianship and lyricism, its fair to say that there are less classic songs on Humbug than either of the previous albums, the tracks simply compliment each other to create an album that feels complete; Secret Door, Dance Little Liar and Cornerstone are possible to only songs which can be considered on par with the Monkey's finest.

Although its short on truly brilliant songs, Humbug's ten tracks fit together beautifully to create a record that is a subtle advancement on both the band's previous albums, it's a powerful but underappreciated third effort.

8/10