Placebo - Battle For The Sun (Album)
» Shock to release new Placebo album - February 24, 2009
» Placebo - Festival Hall, Vic - February 22, 2010
» Soundwave 2010 - Eastern Creek Raceway, NSW - February 21, 2010
Placebo are one of those bands who have been around forever, so long in fact that quintessential tracks like Pure Morning are in danger of being played on one of those oldies stations in between Smells Like Teen Spirit and Bone Machine. Good to see then that the Brian Molko led-trio still have blood in their veins and can kick out the glam-rock jams better than punks half their age. Battle for The Sun doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but you can’t really expect that from the band who practically created the car. Safe to say, all the vital elements are still firmly in place: Molko’s nasal sneer is set to ‘malicious’, those fuzzed up bass lines just keep on coming and there’s plenty of songs about ambiguous sexual encounters. The fact that the ever-androgynous Brian is now sporting Pantene Pro-V ad-worthy locks just complicates things further, but as with every Placebo record, if you close your eyes and get into it, it’ll get into you.
When this band does their job well, as on tracks like The Never-Ending Why, Ashtray Heart and killer single For What It’s Worth, they’re fantastic. What holds them back is a never-ending stream of predictable lyrics about dying, necrophilia, suicide and other grim subjects that really don’t gel after you know the group’s sold a bajillion albums. Then again, Molko is clearly just giving fans what they want and there may be good reason for him doing so. Musically, the band pull some new tricks out of the bag, including a horn section (bet you never thought you’d see that on a Placebo album), some proper rock syncopation and even a glockenspiel.
Those insistent suspended-chord guitar lines are back to keep reminding us that we’re all still living in Cruel Intentions, and Molko’s voice is in top form, especially if he indulges in all the crazy shenanigans he sings about. You get a few shameless throwbacks to the ‘90s, but considering that was when million-dollar record contracts were still around, it isn’t such a bad thing. So if you like your guitars loud and your lyrics bent, this is one CD you’ll be spinning this one all year.
