Review Summary: Love, Kisses and Murderous missives....Therapy?'s heart of darkness.
Evolution. Whichever way one looks at it it’s a good thing. Whilst too drastic a transformation may never succeed due to environmental resistance (…how many animals have wheels?), too little is seldom seen to have any discernible effect. However without change, stagnation and decline can occur as the prevailing conditions alter, consigning the subject in question to the history books. When it comes to musicians the question is how to successfully evolve a sound but remain faithful to their characteristic style, successfully modifying the music to explore new realms but remain connected to their audience.
In 1993, Irish noise-niks
Therapy? appeared to have mastered this delicate process. With the release of two mini-albums in ‘91 and ’92 (
Babyteeth and
Pleasure Death respectively) Therapy? burst onto the scene with a blend of punk infused rock tinged with a perverse industrial flavour. These early releases were snarling and raw, their raucous content slightly unhinged and by no means classic, but they hinted at what was to come. Their debut LP
Nurse built on the Industrial Rock template, inserting bizarre sound clips and polishing the earlier more unfocused style. With the prevailing grunge scene at the time it was inevitable that there would be some intermingling with the Therapy? sound, but by and large they remained unique and whilst it wasn’t a breakthrough it garnered sufficient attention from the music press to propel them into the popular hit parade. However it was with their next release,
Troublegum, that the band hit the big time. Toning down the Industrial bent somewhat and adding textures through superior production and the addition of strings,
Troublegum really was a breakthrough, it’s acerbic power-punk and snarling, at times self-mocking lyrics, combining with an acute sense of melody to create their masterpiece. Not only was the album a massive success for the band, but it garnered critical plaudits in the shape of a Mercury Music Prize nomination and a long and successful tour on the back of it. Expectation was unsurprisingly high for their next full length release.
Perhaps it was the pressure put on them to become the next big thing, maybe even the
‘Irish Nirvana’. Perhaps it was because they recorded almost immediately after a full scale tour with little time to rest, recuperate and write. Perhaps they just thought ‘**** it!’. Whichever was the case
Infernal Love was a very different animal to it’s brethren. Whilst
Troublegum had a brooding aggression,
Infernal Love magnified this sense of dread and desperation tenfold. Just looking at the artwork, with it’s crimson hues and overexposed pictures, possibly gave an indication to the new direction, but nevertheless it took many as a surprise. Industrial noise almost entirely replaced by contributions from Belfast DJ David Holmes, providing an unusual soundscape punctuating the Intro’s and Outro’s of many of the songs, blips and reverb creating a peculiar, disconcerting atmosphere. The electric cello, which had been used sparingly in the past, became far more integral, at times almost taking on the role of an additional guitar or synthesizer. The production too had been stepped up in every way, velvety smooth as opposed to the rawer tones of it’s predecessor, lead singer Andy Cairns tones now rich and more sensuous, with less of the agit rock snarl and more of the charming psychotic.
Initially
Infernal Love isn’t too dissimilar from their previous offering. Other than the feedback and static that precede the first two tracks respectively, they both boast catchy stop-start riffage and could almost be seen as a natural progression of the
T? sound. Off kilter, skittering rhythms and at times jazzy bass lines sit easily beside the galloping guitar; Cairns’ relentless vocals possessing an anxious, almost urgent quality. It’s easy to see why
Stories was chosen as the first single from the album, it’s melodic rock similar enough to previous hit
Screamager, but different enough, with it’s slightly discordant melodies and Saxophone contributions, to create a sense of new interest. However, once the initial blow of the album has been dealt, the true face of
Infernal Love reveals itself with the next trio of songs. Slower, sparser and far more haunting than previous material, all convey a hidden misery and loss.
A Moment Of Clarity and
Bowels Of Love in particular reveal the dark romance of the album and are unlike any song the band had previously recorded. Both could almost be dark rock ballads, with some of Cairns’ most pleading and anxious lyrics, redolent with atmosphere and desperation. By scaling back the punch of their instrumentation, the music in fact delivers a far greater emotional blow. Rather than devolve into a ‘power-ballad’ band however, later tracks successfully merge the brooding despair with scuzzy rock to produce a strange amalgam of the two (see
Me Vs. You with it’s menacing verse and full pelt chorus and
Bad Mother’s fuzzy staccato guitars and dark humour).
However, it wouldn’t be Therapy? if some of the more raucous rock attitude didn’t remain, and this album is no exception to the rule. Highlight
Misery takes the angry grunge rock of
Troublegum and the gloom of it’s sister tracks, to deliver a rollercoaster ride, with a catchy melody and even catchier chorus.
Loose too, seemingly bizarrely out of place with it’s sunny quality and backing
“Ooo’s”, barrels along, and whilst possibly the weakest track on the album (mostly it has to be said, due to it’s seemingly incongruous place on the album) certainly serves to heighten the blow dealt by one of the most chilling covers set to record.
Diane, a
Hüsker Dü cover, is quite simply disturbingly superb (or should that be superbly disturbing?). A dark and chilling tale of a doomed and twisted ‘romance’, Cairns’ performance is rich and steeped in emotion, his insistent and poignant delivery accentuated by the simple cello accompaniment. Bookended by the frantic
30 Seconds, a dissonant, mangled and spiralling return to their twisted proto-rock roots,
Infernal Love mixes sensuous atmospherics with aggression.
Whilst Bassist Michael McKeegan and Drummer Fyfe Ewing are left with less to get involved with than in the past, mostly due to the slower sections of the album and the added presence of Martin McCarrick’s cello, when they do get a chance to show off they most certainly do. Fyfe’s erratic, skittering clatter and Michael’s bubbling, and at times jazzy bass are just as evident on those faster songs and both turn in solid performances. But in truth the star of the album really is Cairns, his mellifluous vocals and passionate delivery serve the album perfectly, and successfully evoke all the emotion that needed to be captured for the album to work. And true not all the songs are cast iron classics. No matter which way one looks at it
Loose is an ill fit here, especially so late in the album once the tone had been so firmly established, and if the intention was to lighten the bleakness, it didn’t succeed. Additionally, a few of the samples and electronic compositions get in the way of the music’s flow. In some cases if they had been shortened a little, or eliminated altogether, then the albums framework would have hung together a little better.
At it’s time of release
Infernal Love wasn’t the smash hit everyone had hoped for and failed to match the success of its predecessor. The major shift in direction, at a time when Brit Pop was the music of the moment, distanced them from what was successful and accessible to their audience. Critically it received a warm if not glowing reception, but over the years
Infernal Love has built on it’s legacy and is no longer the black sheep of the T? back catalogue. Whilst this may not be the typical Therapy? sound, and certainly the band has never since ventured so far into darkness again, it certainly remains an essential document of some of the bands best material.
Therapy? with wheels… Whatever next?
