Review Summary: The best way to scare a Tory is to read and get rich.
IDLES are a bit of an oddity in the UK music scene. Not as heavy or riff-centric as contemporary hardcore punk bands like Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, but more sparse, stripped back and brutal than their poppier counterparts in Slaves, they're heading something of a feisty post-punk revival. Fit with a furious, frothing frontman in Joe Talbot, and a mechanically vicious rhythm section behind him, IDLES revisit styles on
Brutalism that haven't necessarily been at the forefront of music for decades. The real question is, do they manage to craft a burning firebrand of a record, or are it's throwback influences a burden as they struggle to translate and update for a more modern musical landscape?
From the outset, this record really isn't ***ing around. The scream of "no surrender" signals opener 'Heel' has kicked into gear, before a driving drum beat propels the track forwards. It's a masterclass in what the band do best - a furious whirlwind of noise, Joe Talbot utterly losing it, and a metronomically driving rhythm section keeping the whole thing together from beginning to end. Noise and speed aren't the only things IDLES bring on
Brutalism - 'Well Done' and 'Mother', two of the standout tracks on the record act as darkly humorous tirades against the privileged middle class and post-Thatcher conservatism. Bleak and bass-driven, the lyrical earworms of "Why don't you get a job? Even Tarquin has a job" and "The best way to scare a Tory is to read and get rich" don't pussyfoot around on setting the band's ideological agenda. 'Date Night' and 'White Privilege' also excel in this arena, with cynical humour coming together with genuine anger to craft some of the most refreshingly earnest political music of recent years, whilst varying on the aforementioned tracks' formula just enough to keep it interesting.
For every track that IDLES use to try to bludgeon your head in, there's one taking a more subtle approach, whilst somehow not letting go of the bubbling rage that drives the record. '1049 Gotho's musings on relationships and mental health are about as dark as the album gets lyrically, whilst the truly sinister 'Divide and Conquer' throbs it's way through its runtime, providing something of a breather from the breakneck pace of previous tracks, instead opting for a Wire-esque compositional style that's more unsettling than aggressive. It's not all darkness and cynicism either - the latter half of the album drops some - dare I say it - uplifting tracks. 'Rachel Khoo' possesses one of the best choruses on the record, it's summery chords contrasting the claustrophobic composition of many of the other tracks, 'Benzocaine' follows in a similar vein and 'Exeter's sarcastic musings on a dull southwestern city are sure to illicit a laugh out of anyone that's been there - I have, and IDLES aren't wrong.
Perhaps the only track that falls a little flat is 'Slow Savage'. Dropping punk instrumentation in favour of a mournful solo piano, Talbot's harsh vocals feel a little melodramatic and out of place when his backing doesn't match his almost cartoonish levels of fury. On another album, the track might feel more coherent, but it feels an anticlimax to a record so filled with fury, especially seeing as 'White Privilege' seemed to close the record on a suitably unhinged note.
It's only major weak point aside,
Brutalism stands as arguably the finest piece of punk music to come out of the UK in a long time. There are too many lyrical highlights to list in a single review - although 'White Privilege' and 'Well Done' are great places to start if you want some hilariously savage lines. The blending of the direct, simplistic fury of punk with the mechanical, calculated and complex composition of post-punk is consistently applied across the record, and Talbot's vocal performance makes up for a lack of beauty or technical proficiency by being utterly unrelenting. By bringing together so many older, even played-out compositional ideas, and matching them with some sharp and punchy mixing, IDLES have written a debut record that resurrects political punk in all of it's ugly, uncomfortable glory. By pulling no punches and avoiding many of the hook-centric trappings of their contemporaries, the south England punks have knocked the ball out of the park.
Best Tracks: White Privilege, Well Done, Mother, Date Night, 1049 Gotho, Stendahl Syndrome, Heel
Worst Track: Slow Savage
