Album Review

The Futureheads – The Chaos

• 21st Apr 2010

The Futureheads roared onto the scene in 2004 with their self titled debut album, with all the promise of a band heading to the very top. Their jaunty 2 – 4 minute pop songs were very easy on the ear and their cover of Kate Bush’ Hounds of Love was an absolute masterpiece.

Since then, the Futureheads have flattered to deceive a little and not really fulfilled the early promise. Subsequent albums ‘News & Tributes’ and ‘This is Not the World’ have spawned the odd moment of magic, most notably ‘The Beginning of the Twist, and ‘Favours for Favours’ but the change in musical direction failed to break the mainstream, unlike some of the class of 2004, such as Kasabian and Razorlight.

So it is with great pleasure that this reviewer can report that with their fourth studio album, ‘The Chaos‘, the boys are going back to the formula that brought them an almost cult following in the first place and they arrive at their best effort since their eponymous debut. In fact, this is what the ‘difficult second album’ should have sounded like.

‘Struck Dumb’ and recent single ‘Heartbeat Song’ will have the toes tapping and are the most likely tunes to be heard on indie dancefloors across the country. There are nods to the early days too, ‘Stop the Noise’ sounds like a newly improved version of ‘The City is Here for You to Use’ and you can hear the frenetic, up-tempo backbeat that was used to great effect in the early days.

The album reaches its high point with a rather dark ‘‘Sun Goes Down’ – “The Sun goes down and the double life begins, it’s a one way ticket to the city of sin” touching on the night life culture of modern Britain. This is not the only ‘issue’ touched upon by Ross Millard, Barry Hyde and co. “The queue is a thousand strong, the town is closing down” from ’The Baron’ would seem to be a reference to the numerous dole queues up and down the country, not least presumably, in their native Sunderland.

While ‘The Chaos’ doesn’t have the amazing stand out tracks that their debut did (Hounds of Love -Decent Days and Nights – Meantime), it does see The Futureheads come up with their most consistent and audible album since. So just sit back, ignore the fast forward button and savour the return of The Futureheads as we know them.