Review Summary: The noise rock comedians are back, and perfect what they do so well
If the world were to end tomorrow, the survivors would have many great pieces of music to use as their anthem into the new and uncertain future. Many of these songs or albums would be either cynical or hopeful in an effort to move people, but The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left would be an album used to laugh at everyone else who was surprised by the end of the world. With their sixth studio album (and second successfully crowd funded), Future of the Left come through with another noisy, eccentric, and satirical album full of them doing what they do best.
The opening track “If AT&T Drank Tea What Would BP Do?” showcases everything Future of the Left does so well. A hazy distorted guitar riff plays for a moment before the driving bass and drums come in to lead the song. Andy Falkous comes in screaming lines that don’t really seem to have anything to do with the title of the song, but somehow seem to get the point across by the end of it. This is all very run of the mill for a typical Future of the Left song, and if there’s any issue with the album, this is it. Future of the Left are doing what they do best and not deviating much, but that doesn’t mean they feel tired. Each song feels refreshing in its own way, and the songwriting remains inspired. All this is not to say Future of the Left just sit in their comfort zone and churn out a by the books noise rock album. They remain true to who they’ve always been and deliver song after song of satirical critiques on modern life and government. As the title of the albums leads you to believe, a lot of the lyrics and themes center around finding a peace in facet life. Whether that be individuals finding peace in their own situations, or governments comings to a truce with corporations or feuding countries, but never a happy peace and truce, always a very muddied and lucrative peace and truce
The biggest new addition to this album is the very animated feeling drums on a large majority of tracks here. Tracks such as “No Son Will Ease their Solitude”, “Grass Parade”, and “The Limits of Battleships” feature drummer Jack Egglestone leading the song and making the album feel more alive. On previous albums, drums were usually used to drive the songs forward without adding much, but here we see them changing tempo, leading transitions, accenting key moments, and overall feeling more ambitious and up front on each track. The second new thing The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left brings to the table over previous efforts is the no-wave inspired and heavier, guitar riffs thanks again to Andy Falkous. Guitar leading tracks such as “Reference Point Zero”, “White Privilege Blues”, and “50 Days Before the Hun” all feel very no-wave inspired due to the extra hazy and hard to pin point riffs, very much in the style of early New York no-wave. Even on more straight forward riffs like “Proper Music” or “Eating for None” the guitar still feels heavy, but also very unsettling. On the bass side of the album Julia Ruzicka brings her signature leading riffs, but does little in the way of experimenting on what she already has done on previous efforts. That’s not to say that these aren’t some of the heaviest tracks Future of the Left has made on the bass side, specifically the opening moments of “Running All Over the Wicket”.
The only issue with the album comes up again with it feeling very much like a Future of the Left album. Tracks like “Back When I was Brilliant” and “Eating for None” are too lyrically abstract to have lasting impact, and specifically the track “Back When I was Brilliant” featuring the weird, screamed vocals over a harmless, slow sounding beat that don’t mesh too well together. None of this is to say that the lyrics don’t still have a lasting, strong impact on many of these tracks, whether it be the track “White Privilege Blues” dealing with the lack of hardships of being white, or “No Son Will Ease their Solitude” about growing up and leaving your family behind. Each song is able to tackle new things that haven’t yet been touched by Future of the Left but keeping in the traditional dark comedic, and satirical style the band has developed. Even the above mentioned low points don’t take anything away from the album and serve as just good songs in a track listing full of great songs.
Overall on The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left, Future of the Left come through with their heaviest and most distorted offering yet, through 13 tracks of bleak atmosphere and dark comedy. The album serves to show that Future of the Left still have great songwriting left in them and know how to take what they know how to do and fully perfect it. Songs like “Back When I was Brilliant” and “Eating for None” serving as the only low points are still good songs. Where on the flip side high points such as “The Limit of Battleships” and “Miner’s Gruel” are some of the best tracks the group has ever released; with each featuring some of the best stories and drumming Future of the Left has ever put together.
