Albums

Album Review: Stereophonics

Album: Pull The Pin
Label: V2

A year out, a change of label and Stereophonics are now ready to unleash their sixth studio album, Pull The Pin. The whole album has been mixed by ‘Spike’ Stent of U2 fame and this, plus producer Jim Lowe’s (Foo Fighters/Manics) input, has resulted in a punchy monster of an album veering away from their well-known gentle pop-rock sound and stepping firmly towards something much more exciting.

The album’s first track ‘Soldiers Make Good Targets’ kicks off with a news broadcast and screaming siren. It’s interrupted with a gunshot of grunge guitar which licks around Kelly Jones’ husky vocals. As the chorus approaches he lets loose a volley of red-raw Cobain-esque rasps. It’s ballsy stuff in the vein of Ash or the Manic Street Preachers. The steady insistent drums and backing vocals fill the sound to the brim creating the perfect slap in the chops. ‘Pass The Buck’ follows with pounding guitars over minimalist drums, a volley of vitriol and a series of chord changes that invite a new wave of volume each time. This is solid single material and to keep it as filler would be criminal.

Inevitably, there’s a time-out as new single ‘It Means Nothing’ creates a strange comedown with a two-chord structure that quickly forms a repetitive snag on which to get caught up. It’s certainly catchy but it’s nothing special and happily ‘Bank Holiday Monday’ picks us back up with some driving Feeder-style rock. It’s got pounding beats, a frenetic bass, whining guitars and features a sudden and stunning break, a la Foo Fighters.

‘Daisy Lane’ has a pulsing heartbeat lead over a simple bassline, and ‘Stone’ makes fine use of minor chords to create a menacing call to arms. Both numbers are great vehicles for Kelly’s extraordinary vocals and lyrics. ‘My Friends’ swirls with ramped-up guitars that feedback over Javier Wyler’s thudding drums and the theme runs into the incredible ‘I Could Lose Ya’. It’s a scorching two-chord blaze phased into piercing single notes and back again. It’s pure unadulterated rock guitar satisfaction and almost swallows the understated vocal before it fades out in a series of rolling echoes.

The rest of the album is in much the same vein with plenty of full-on rocking but enough slower numbers to chill to. ‘Crush’ is definitely worth a mention as it features a funky Richard Jones’ bass-lick, Kelly giving it everything with battle-cries and whoops and a storming chorus characterised by electronic waves of back-fill. The whole shebang finishes with ‘Drowning’. Tentative guitar wallows over a Gallacher-styled protracted vocal which winds up to bullet drums and a bass that dips in and out of the mix. The stepped progression ends in a twisting infusion of venom.

The depth of this album is phenomenal, surprising at every turn with its energy and simplicity – a harmony of raging rock and marvellous melody. It’s firmly rooted in reality with lyrics covering the London Underground bombings, stabbings, war and sex. The pace is measured perfectly with regular dips from the light into the dark; the subtle into the obvious. Ten years together, tagged and bagged by all and sundry, and then Stereophonics slip in their best work to date. Pull The Pin is sure to push them back into the limelight and further their already mighty fan-base.

For fans of: Supergrass, Manic Street Preachers, Feeder
Band link = Stereophonics

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Tags: album, cd, stereophonics, pull the pin, review, rock, pull, music, pin

Review commissioned by Music-Zine.

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