Genre: Alternative Rock
Release Year: 2011
Label: Fiction (Polydor)/Universal Music Group
Been a little while since I last wrote a music review, so here's a little something.
I wasn't getting my hopes up about this album. I used to be a huge Kaiser Chiefs fan back in the days of Employment and Yours Truly, Angry Mob. But the synthesized bog of Off With Their Heads nearly made me give up on the band. But I bought this album, just in case.
I'm glad I did.
It had been three years since the Chiefs' previous album, and it seems they needed this time to find their bearings. But instead of returning completely to the solid rock of their early years (like I hoped they would), they took this and mixed it with a puzzling new psychedelic style. It's Bowie meets Floyd meets Nirvana...with a dash of LSD.
The album opens with Little Shocks, which is one of my favourite Chiefs tracks ever. It's a perfect example of how the band have developed their old sound with new modal scales. It's a massive fanfare, and possibly the best opener of 2011.
Unfortunately, the album loses this momentum nearly straight away with Things Change - an 80s Bowie tune that has been sieved through a dog. But the third track does pick up the shattered remains and builds an explosive chorus in Long Way From Celebrating.
The album continues to bounce from both extremes for the rest of it's 13 tracks. But for the first time, a Kaiser Chiefs album provides us with variety. Oasis influences come through in Child Of The Jago and even Katy Perry can be heard in Starts With Nothing. The strong, guitar-led ideologies of Employment and Angry Mob drop in for Kinda Girl You Are and Dead Or In Serious Trouble, and Florence + The Machine can be heard in Out Of Focus. If The Future Is Medieval is anything, it's unpredictable.
It also has the first hidden track that I have ever enjoyed. Wait 20 minutes after If You Will Have Me and you will be delivered one of the coolest rock instrumentals since records began. According to Wikipedia, it's called Howlaround. Says it all really.
Other than the odd duff track, my only other criticism would be that most of the lyrics leave alot to be desired, "It starts with nothing, and it ends in nothing/you start with nothing, you leave with nothing" etc. Yeah, we get it.
Not bad at all. The Future Is Medieval is a fantastic revival for the Kaiser Chiefs, and possibly the most impressive resurrection since Jesus.
8/10
What's your favourite Kaiser Chiefs song? Let us know in the comments...
Tom :)
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