Bloodlines

The ones who don’t know Shakira’s She Wolf raise your hands. What, no one? Sam Endicott must be so happy, he got another 15 minutes of fame besides The Bravery’s 2005 hit An Honest Mistake. For those of you who had no idea to why She Wolf’s instrumental is oddly enjoyable, here’s news: Endicott took his love for New Order influenced guitars and co-wrote the song. So you can stop feeling guilty. Well, ok, no, you should still feel guilty. I know I am.

Now, I need to get something else out of the way. The Bravery’s electro-coated rock probably aims to fill in the gap left by Killers’ change of sound after Hot Fuss. Sometimes, they might sound like Day & Age, but what Bravery want is to take the glitzy glam of Hot Fuss one step further. On paper, it wouldn’t be a bad thing: in my opinion, those days, before Brandon Flowers grew a moustache, where the best days The Killers ever saw (I'm not including Tranquilize here. It doesn't count, it had Lou Reed on. Of course it was brilliant). Only problem is Bravery’s new effort (and what an effort it was to write this one), Stir The Blood, doesn’t really take anything anywhere, maybe just three steps back.

The intro isn’t very helpful: Adored is, hands down, the most annoying and unsatisfying (music-wise) opening track ever. Sure, the drums are ok, the guitar is ok, but the voice really pushes your buttons. Oh, that voice that tries to be Ian Curtis meets Brandon Flowers is mostly annoying. It scratches your brain, especially during the chorus. I actually felt the need to crack open Endicott’s skull. So we skip it and vow never to play it again.

Quickly as you walk past the next track, a forgettable music piece (however the voice is slightly less annoying), you get to the album’s highlights. Yeah, two songs that are actually fun and good and stand on there own. Instrumental-wise. Slow Poison is an early New Order-fused gloomy piece, while Hatefuck is a future synth-rock anthem that’ll surely find its way on club playlists around the world. And then we sink back into electro-coated songs that are easily forgettable. Wait, no, there’s also She’s So Bendable, a track with a bluesy riff and some Primal Scream-scented chords and pointless, stupid lyrics.

You see, the instrumental is not one of the band’s big issues. No, in fact, even the haters will agree that, after a few glasses of vodka, it’s passable and one could easily dance to the songs. Cause when you’re almost drunk, you don’t really hear the lyrics anymore. The cringe worthy lyrics. When you hear the gems on Stir The Blood (“I am a nerve ending without a brain” is one of the best), even the lyrics of She Wolf will sound like sheer poetry (and it’ll become blatant Endicott had no part in writing the lyrical content of that song). Yeah, even the “I’m starting to feel just a little abused like a vending machine is an office” line.

So it’s safe to say you can save the space on your computer and delete Stir The Blood, except maybe Slow Poison and Hatefuck. They might come in hand at a house party, who knows. And yes, buying this is out of the discussion.