Music
“Hypnic jerk and I’m woken from a dream. We were pooling pennies for the coin-op guillotine” goes the opening line of ‘Coin Op Guillotine’ the first track on Los Campesinos! seventh album. ‘All Hell’. As far as openings go, it’s about as on brand as the band can get. And one that leaves a smile plastered across listener’s faces that remains long after the notes of the final track have faded.
It’s been seven years since the band’s last studio album. The longest they’ve ever gone between records. A lot has changed in that time. Personally. Politically. Globally. One thing that hasn’t however, is Los Campesinos!’ ability to find romance, and indeed heartbreak, in the everyday. To be so militantly, yet so poetically left wing, and their ability to relish in self-deprecation without ever once feeling on the nose.
As one might expect, there’s plenty of the above on offer across the 15 tracks on ‘All Hell’, a record that feels as self-referential as it is self-deprecating. With nods to each of the records that came before it, listening through is a joy for a long-term fans, whilst the uninitiated can be sure that this is the ultimate gateway album to LC! And while it might not be your favourite, there’s a very good chance it might just be their best.
Second track ‘Holy Smoke’ for instance is a clattering, fizzy post-punk offering that feels more akin to the band’s first three albums than anything they’ve done in years, though the e-number effervescence of those records has been replaced by something of a world weary cynicism found within later material.
Previous single ‘A Psychic Wound’ however shares more in common with 2013’s ‘No Blues’, however, it’s later track ‘Long Throes’ that stands out on it’s own as something truly unique. A loping four minute cut that builds subtlety towards its conclusion; the easy going ebb and flow of the track belying some of the band’s most cutting lyricism to date. On other albums, it’s easy to see this being the final track, but here the band still have plenty more to say.
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Elsewhere, ‘The Order of Seasons’ and ‘To Hell in A Handjob’ are archetypal Los Campesinos! Both self-deprecating and irresistibly upbeat, the subtle swells of brass in the latter are the perfect touch and showcase what feels like a maturing within their songwriting that’s present across the entirety of ‘All Hell’.
The first album in which the band have done everything themselves, from the funding right down to the production, it truly does feel like everything has been leading up to this point. And while much of the record might well feel familiar and self-referential, the production here ties everything together with a level of polish unheard on earlier recordings. Even those more off-kilter offerings (‘Clown Blood; or, Orpheus bobbing Head’) harbour some of the best production values seen on an LC! record.
Truly the sum of everything that’s come before it, ‘All Hell’ is the quintessential Los Campesinos! album. Big, bold and brash, whilst at the same time succeeding in retaining the band’s politics and indeed their humility. It might have taken seven years to be released, and it might take longer than that before we see another one, if indeed we ever do. Either way, on ‘All Hell’, the band have bared their guts once again, and never, ever has it sounded so good.
9/10
Words: Dave Beech
