After reading some threads on the Mountain Goats forum, I decided to delay writing my review of the new album until nearer to the release date, but since receiving the promo on Wednesday I've been listening to little else and couldn't resist at least making a few observations.
Firstly, it is way different to 'Get Lonely'. Whereas that record was beautiful, subtle and understated, this one is powerful, angry and exciting. The last few TMG records have all focussed on a specific theme, here it is harder to pinpoint but there seems to be a lot of lyrics about monsters, impending doom and destruction and war, an awful lot of imagery and metaphors too.
The band sound really tight, the drums sound great, the guitars are loud and there's a lot of cello too. There are some really fast songs with the 'shouty' vocal that we haven't heard from John in a while mixed with some slower songs including a really beautiful one called 'Tianchi Lake' which reminds me a lot of 'Idylls of the King' from 'Tallahassee'.
Of the faster songs, 'Sax Rohmer #1' is a highlight with it's wonderful "I am coming home to you/ with my own blood in my mouth" hook, but possibly the best song here is the incredible 'Lovecraft in Brooklyn' which has to be heard to be believed and is now my joint favourite song of the year along with AMC's 'The Sleeping Beauty'.
This may be my favourite Mountain Goats album. It's a blast, it's enjoyable and it's beautiful. It mixes all the elements of my favourite TMG records and brings them all together into one fully formed album. I love it.
Full review coming in Feb. and yes, I shall be buying the full 4AD cd (and probably LP) too as soon as it is released.
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