It’s a testament to The Living End as a band that this album was ever finished. After Chris Cheney was involved in a horrific carcrash and the original drummer left the band to seek pastures new, you wouldn’t have blamed the band for calling it a day.
But thank the Australian Health Service, they’re back, and this time it’s … mainstream? Well, not quite, but it seems to me that if The Living End are ever going to hit the big time outside of their native Australia, then ‘Modern ARTillery’ is the album that will do it for them. While closer in style to their self titled debut album than sophomore effort ‘Roll On’, there’s a certain sheen to the songs (thanks in part to Mark Trombino) , and a simplicity in structure that at first infuriates but eventually compliments The Living End’s bottomless talent in the ‘tune’ department.
However, after the first two or three listens. I have to say I fucking hated this record. I loved ‘Roll On’ like it was my own cuddly life support machine and I still do, so the move away from the balls out rock on that record was a crushing disappointment for me. Luckily, I refrained from reviewing it before I could give it a proper listen and my initial feelings appear to have been way off the mark. While coated in a shiny new skin and with a new outlook on life, this is still the Living End that we know and love.
Opener ‘What Would You Do?’ is poppy as fuck and takes you totally surprise. Luckily, though, it’s also catchy as fuck and for a short, sharp burst of the brand new Living End, you can’t go wrong. ‘Short Notice’ is a spiky little number that shouldn’t work at all but does and ‘End Of The World’ utilises that stand up bass of theirs to create the only song that could possibly be called rock/psychobilly on the whole album. On the other end of the scale, ‘In The End’ is so chilled out it’s close to freezing, with a few sweet little vocal touches that drag it out of average and into pretty damn good, while ‘Putting You Down’ utilises drunken solo’s, ska upstrokes and a delightful chorus to showcase yet another side to TLE.
But it’s not all good news, oh no. ‘Tabloid Magazine’ has a sort of Huey Lewis and the News meets Green Day thing going on that doesn’t really work for me (not to mention the throwaway lyrics), ‘Jimmy’ is just annoying and mildly pedestrian while ‘Maitland Street’ starts off brilliantly, but is let down by a fiercely catchy yet mildly dull chorus.
So, in conclusion, if you want the continuation of the frankly brilliant ‘Roll On’ then you’re in for a bitter disappointment. However, if you want the growth and maturity of The Living End into a slick song writing machine, then you’re going to be ecstatic. While half of me rues the stellar album that could have been created off the back of ‘Roll On’, the other half of me is too busy wallowing in the sheer poppyness of ‘Modern ARTillery’, too drunk on melody to care.
Ross