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EL VY Return To The Moon
Right, so what have we got here? Sounds like some kinda
concept album about a kid from the American mid-west,
swirled into a lament for the late D. Boon of art-punks
Minutemen, during which our narrator engages in a dose
of self-mockery about his own star status. So far so Matt
Berninger of The National. Except this project is as much
about Brent Knopf of Menomena fame, who provides the
soundscapes for Berninger to flourish over. And whilst it inevitably feels like The National
in parts, there’s a sonic diversity on offer which places Berninger’s voice and wordplay
in challenging new settings. The title track with its fairytale lyric may be a perfect slice
of indie pop, but much of what follows is far from predictable. I’m the Man To Be pairs
an explicit chorus with a clubby dubby vibe; Paul Is Alive is all vintage keyboard noises
and programmed beats; Happiness, Missouri swaggers like a real dancefloor filler and
Sleepin’ Light is soulfully smooth. Lyrically, the recurring theme seems to be family and
memory. Berninger references a "sugar-coated childhood" and declares, "I’d never been
so alone/ 'Till I read that the Minutemen were dead." Typically he’s already declared it to
be autobiographical whilst saying the details aren’t true. But, what the heck: if this is the
future of concept albums, let’s all get ready to be linked in. GarethThompson
Also Spinning
City And Colour
If I Should Go Before You
Labeled as a ‘folk’ artist, here you’d be excused for thinking Dallas
Green (the man behind the moniker) is a huge star from the late ‘70s,
delivering tales of loves lost and unrequited, with a sound that licks
your ear. You can picture him sitting on a stool singing the title track: it’s late and the
bar is full of lost souls enveloped and swaying within his spellbinding truths. You cry,
you understand, you lament – and then you buy his CD on the way out, as it’s now the
soundtrack to the rest of your misery and hope. Yes, it’s that good. Chris Murray
Slayer Repentless
Repentless comes with an insurmountable amount of baggage.
It’s the first Slayer album minus the late Jeff Hanneman and it
features the return of drummer Paul Bostaph, after Dave Lombardo's
incongruous departure. The question is, does Repentless deliver?
Well, it’s easily Slayer’s strongest album in a long while and possibly
the band's best since 1994’s Divine Intervention. It’s not all good – a number of songs
should have remained in the rehearsal room – but for what it’s worth, Repentless is a
solid effort from a band who have experienced better days. Simon Lukic
Atreyu Long Live
Credit where it’s due: Atreyu are one of the OG, founding fathers of
metalcore. They were the perfect embodiment of the genre in the
'00s and thus it only seems fair that after a brief respite from world
tours they reform to create an album called Long Live. Fans will be
thoroughly satisfied with this unexpected extra helping, that sounds
precisely like the crunching Californian metal our teenage selves fell in
love with 15 years ago. Emily Kelly
visit REVIEWS MUSIC
46 OCTOBER 2015
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