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| "An introspective and dark experience" |
No one tells me when to review an album. It took me a little over one year to give Bastille's "Bad Blood" a listen, and that is only because I am very lazy and there's only so much new music you can listen to.
Having said that, I've liked "Pompeii", which opens the album, since the first time I heard it.
The alternative pop sound has always appealed to me, and the big "Pompeii" chorus is impossible to ignore.
I live in a country where it's hard to keep up with all the latest releases. Here in Spain new songs take months to start getting airplay and new acts are lucky if they don't get overlooked. A lot of the time, new songs only start receiving attention if they have become hits in other countries first.
The album is, unsurprisingly, what you would expect "indie" artists to come up with nowadays. Now the term "indie" is used loosely here, as it actually is short for "independent", and there is nothing "independent" about an artist that is signed to a major record company. But, to be fair, Bastille actually started as an independent act and released an EP called "Laura Palmer" in 2011 all by themselves.
"Things We Lost In The Fire" almost sounds like a faster version of Gotye's smash hit "Somebody That I Used To Know", but Bastille's lead singer Dan Smith's peculiar vocals give the entire album a fairly strong personality.
There is an element of folk to the album, mixed with electronica and rocky pop. Lyrically, there's no shortage of dark moments, especially in "Weight Of Living Pt. I" and "Weight Of Living Pt. II". The first part of the song uses the metaphor of the albatross, which, according to our best friend Wikipedia, "is sometimes used to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse". And "Icarus" contributes to the general dark mood of the record, with lyrics such as:
"Look who's digging their own grave, that is what they all say, you'll drink yourself to death."
The song references old Greek mythology, but the band isn't exactly singing the story of Icarus, which is a classic example of failed ambitions. This is what they had to say about the song:
"Icarus comes from things I feel about myself and other people that I know, I generally try not to write songs that seem too personal and sometimes use characters or stories to try and move the focus away from myself and from more obvious topics."
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| "All This Bad Blood", the re-release |
"Laura Palmer" is a catchy ode to "Twin Peaks", and it shares its haunting echoes with another song: "Of The Night". Yes, "Of The Night" is a mash-up of two classic dance hits from the 90s: Corona's "Rhythm Of The Night" and Snap!'s "Rhythm Is A Dancer". It is an original take on the tracks, and it served as the lead single off the re-release of the band's debut album, which took place in November 2013. The accompanying video is as dark as the song, and it features American actor James Russo as a detective who visits several crime scenes. You won't want to miss the singing corpses.
This is a record that requires a certain mood, a particular state of mind, as it could feel like an introspective and dark experience. You wouldn't want to play this while you're getting ready for a night out, let's put it that way. Musically, it risks sounding samey and repetitive, but it is lyrically interesting.
Something that just crossed my mind: the cover of the standard edition of the album is very reminiscent of Radiohead's "Karma Police" music video.
My score: 6/10
You can purchase the record here:
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