Post by Lawrie on Oct 18, 2010 20:49:47 GMT
You can all breathe easy now, my long-awaited verdict on Hammer & Anvil is checking in. Are you all sitting comfortably?
I *LOVE* it!!
Without a shred of hyperbole, I genuinely think this is the best record PRR have ever made. It's certainly their most consistent... by a long, LONG way. Unlike The Dark Third and Amor Vincit Omnia, I don't think there's a single weak song on the record (yes, I'm looking at you Aeropause/The Exact Colour, and Victorious Cupid/Disconnect). On first listens, there don't seem to be the massive high points (Les Malheurs, Deus, AVO) that you get from AVO, but then you realise that's because the *whole record* is a high point. Seriously, there's not a weak second on the album, and the tone of the record feels more 'one cohesive whole of an album'-like than any PRR effort to date... it's almost like Kid A in that respect.
After several listens, I'm still trying to juggle what my favourite track is, and they all keep making damn good arguments for themselves:
Fight Fire is the most energetic, floor-stomping tune they have ever done: it reminds me (and a friend I played it to) very much of my perennial favourites The Music. The thumping yet funky bass line is like listening to Rob Harvey and co at their best, and that is a compliment I don't hand out lightly.
Every time I listen to Black Mourning, it seems to be the one that would be most likely to move down the 'favourites' list first, but then you hear that chorus (for the zillionth time) sing the "Down, down, dow-own" line and you fall in love with it all over again!
Patriach is a subtle starter, but builds up to a great crescendo in the chorus, and the harmonies are particularly lovely.
Last Man, Last Round was the first "ZOMG!" (excuse the internet-speak) moment on the album for me, and it is absolutely epic. A riff straight from the interface where the parallel universes of dance hell and rock destruction meet, it could take out entire cities if unleashed.
Valour is obviously just class from start to finish. Quality, dancey verses, and massive epic rock choruses. Particularly liking Jamie's wailing guitar parts behind the final chorus.
Over The Top is a little like Patriach in that it's a subtle starter, but I don't think it's a VC/Disconnect style dud. It's a catchy little bastard that creeps up on you by surprise, and the repetition of parts of the song reminds me of Klaxons - they use that device all the time and it is sneakily effective. In fact, I don't know entirely why because the sound is quite different, but something about this song reminds me of Klaxons' Forgotten Works... which is a good thing.
Never Divide is simply sublime and is my early runner for favourite track on the album. I fecking LOVE it when PRR go 'pop' - I think they do it as well as anyone else in the business - and even though there is enough going on musically to keep this artistically interesting in its own right, at heart this is just an amazing pop tune, and absolutely chuffing brilliant.
Blitzkrieg, like Last Man, was my second "ZOMG!" moment on the album... I bet plenty of people shared similar feelings about those two songs, thinking about it. Again, just a flash of pure genius - THIS is how good dance music can be, and it's a relief to see Jon pull this one out of the hat after the having a slightly hit-and-miss record on the 'all electronic' side of things in the past (I'm thinking the Cedo Simplex remix of Cupid, Disconnect etc here). The sung vocals part of the track could be massively incongruous in a song like this, but for whatever unexplainable reason it works perfectly in Blitzkrieg, and then sets you up perfectly for...
Open Insurrection. Or "How To Beat The Coopers At Their Own Game", as I'm starting to call it. Massive, massive tune that goes toe-to-toe with the most epic moments of bands like The Cooper Temple Clause and The Music (sorry for another comparison which no one else may get, but there are shades of The Music's brilliant "No Danger" in here). Builds up really, really well which is no mean feat - you can get it spectacularly right (see 65dos: "Debutante") or spectacularly wrong (see 65dos: "Tiger Girl"), and OI falls way over on the right side of the line in this respect. Really enjoyed the linked vocal passages to Blitzkrieg too.
And finally, there's Armistice. By all rights, I shouldn't even wanna be in the same room as this song, because it is Fleetwood Mac all over (to my uneducated ears), and I've never ever been a Fleetwood Mac fan - so sue me! But in the context of the album, the song works brilliantly well after the epic scope of Open Insurrection, and feels like a proper conclusion to the album - it plays a massive part in the cohesiveness of the record as a whole. And the heavy "deliverance, this is deliverance" bit towards the end is especially great.
Overall then, like many on here I suspect, I'm deliriously happy with how this album has turned out. It truly should appeal to a massive cross-section of the music-listening public: pop, rock and electronic/dance fans alike. I've thought this about every PRR album, but none more so than Hammer And Anvil. I only hope that an appropriate number of people now get to hear it, and give the band and this record the success they deserve.
I *LOVE* it!!
Without a shred of hyperbole, I genuinely think this is the best record PRR have ever made. It's certainly their most consistent... by a long, LONG way. Unlike The Dark Third and Amor Vincit Omnia, I don't think there's a single weak song on the record (yes, I'm looking at you Aeropause/The Exact Colour, and Victorious Cupid/Disconnect). On first listens, there don't seem to be the massive high points (Les Malheurs, Deus, AVO) that you get from AVO, but then you realise that's because the *whole record* is a high point. Seriously, there's not a weak second on the album, and the tone of the record feels more 'one cohesive whole of an album'-like than any PRR effort to date... it's almost like Kid A in that respect.
After several listens, I'm still trying to juggle what my favourite track is, and they all keep making damn good arguments for themselves:
Fight Fire is the most energetic, floor-stomping tune they have ever done: it reminds me (and a friend I played it to) very much of my perennial favourites The Music. The thumping yet funky bass line is like listening to Rob Harvey and co at their best, and that is a compliment I don't hand out lightly.
Every time I listen to Black Mourning, it seems to be the one that would be most likely to move down the 'favourites' list first, but then you hear that chorus (for the zillionth time) sing the "Down, down, dow-own" line and you fall in love with it all over again!
Patriach is a subtle starter, but builds up to a great crescendo in the chorus, and the harmonies are particularly lovely.
Last Man, Last Round was the first "ZOMG!" (excuse the internet-speak) moment on the album for me, and it is absolutely epic. A riff straight from the interface where the parallel universes of dance hell and rock destruction meet, it could take out entire cities if unleashed.
Valour is obviously just class from start to finish. Quality, dancey verses, and massive epic rock choruses. Particularly liking Jamie's wailing guitar parts behind the final chorus.
Over The Top is a little like Patriach in that it's a subtle starter, but I don't think it's a VC/Disconnect style dud. It's a catchy little bastard that creeps up on you by surprise, and the repetition of parts of the song reminds me of Klaxons - they use that device all the time and it is sneakily effective. In fact, I don't know entirely why because the sound is quite different, but something about this song reminds me of Klaxons' Forgotten Works... which is a good thing.
Never Divide is simply sublime and is my early runner for favourite track on the album. I fecking LOVE it when PRR go 'pop' - I think they do it as well as anyone else in the business - and even though there is enough going on musically to keep this artistically interesting in its own right, at heart this is just an amazing pop tune, and absolutely chuffing brilliant.
Blitzkrieg, like Last Man, was my second "ZOMG!" moment on the album... I bet plenty of people shared similar feelings about those two songs, thinking about it. Again, just a flash of pure genius - THIS is how good dance music can be, and it's a relief to see Jon pull this one out of the hat after the having a slightly hit-and-miss record on the 'all electronic' side of things in the past (I'm thinking the Cedo Simplex remix of Cupid, Disconnect etc here). The sung vocals part of the track could be massively incongruous in a song like this, but for whatever unexplainable reason it works perfectly in Blitzkrieg, and then sets you up perfectly for...
Open Insurrection. Or "How To Beat The Coopers At Their Own Game", as I'm starting to call it. Massive, massive tune that goes toe-to-toe with the most epic moments of bands like The Cooper Temple Clause and The Music (sorry for another comparison which no one else may get, but there are shades of The Music's brilliant "No Danger" in here). Builds up really, really well which is no mean feat - you can get it spectacularly right (see 65dos: "Debutante") or spectacularly wrong (see 65dos: "Tiger Girl"), and OI falls way over on the right side of the line in this respect. Really enjoyed the linked vocal passages to Blitzkrieg too.
And finally, there's Armistice. By all rights, I shouldn't even wanna be in the same room as this song, because it is Fleetwood Mac all over (to my uneducated ears), and I've never ever been a Fleetwood Mac fan - so sue me! But in the context of the album, the song works brilliantly well after the epic scope of Open Insurrection, and feels like a proper conclusion to the album - it plays a massive part in the cohesiveness of the record as a whole. And the heavy "deliverance, this is deliverance" bit towards the end is especially great.
Overall then, like many on here I suspect, I'm deliriously happy with how this album has turned out. It truly should appeal to a massive cross-section of the music-listening public: pop, rock and electronic/dance fans alike. I've thought this about every PRR album, but none more so than Hammer And Anvil. I only hope that an appropriate number of people now get to hear it, and give the band and this record the success they deserve.