The Strokes have a lot to answer for. Back in 2001 it was them who really kick-started the rock revivalist bandwagon, and as such they are at least partly responsible for the slew of second rate indie bands that have somehow found success in the ensuing ten years. They’ve inspired some pretty great stuff too, but for every charmingly ramshackle band of Libertines the New Yorkers have paved the way for, a group of substanceless bores like Razorlight have sneaked their way through the door too. Nevertheless, this doesn’t take away from what the group achieved on Is This It and its criminally underrated follow-up, Room On Fire.
We now find ourselves five years from the band’s last record, the slightly disappointing but nevertheless solid First Impressions of Earth, and with the dust well and truly settled on the members’ debut solo efforts, anticipation for their fourth long-player is high. This has only been heightened by the tremulous relationship that Julian Casablancas, Nick Valensi et al are said to have endured during the recording process, with Casablancas being so wound up by the whole affair as to have submitted his vocals to the rest of the band via computer, rather than collaborating with the rest of the group in the studio. No matter, plenty of masterful works of art have been completed under tortuous circumstances; Fleetwood Mac, My Bloody Valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins and The Rolling Stones are just a few of the groups to have completed their magnum opuses whilst at each others’ throats and in each others’ beds.
The sound of opener “Macchu Picchu” does little to suggest any trying circumstances in the band’s camp, bouncing along quite happily with a cod-reggae melody. But listen a little closer. What’s that Casablancas is singing? “I'm putting your patience to the test, I'm putting your body on the line, for less.” Hardly the words of a contented man. Similar lyrical themes are found throughout the album, Casablancas expressing a nagging frustration whilst the band stamps out a high-pitched, jangly sound beneath. This is essentially what they’ve been doing since 2003, but back then they did it far better. Sonically, there’s little to tell between this and Room on Fire, perhaps the drumming is a little more ‘motorik’ and there’s a tad more synth here and there, but these songs could quite easily be cast-offs from those sessions eight years ago. This is entirely the problem; the songs seem to lack any of the inspiration The Strokes tapped into previously. It’s almost as if the band worked on the album whilst their minds were elsewhere, perhaps on the next solo record. It’s surprising then that they have already stated that work on even more new material has begun, and that there is plenty more music left over from the sessions that gave a difficult birth to this record.
Apart from opening single “Under Cover of Darkness”, the main highlight is the spiralling “Metabolism”, which possesses a yearning riff and keyboards that sound like a choir. The sentiment of the vocal matches that of the riff, Casablancas confessing that he’s “searching for the perfect life.” You begin to almost feel sorry for the guy, but then the track ends and you’re left bored once again.
There’s nothing particularly terrible or annoying about any these songs (and you’ll probably have a better time listening to it than it sounds like they had making it), but then again there’s almost absolutely nothing interesting either. There’s maybe two or three great moments on this album, but you’re left wanting when you contrast this with the band’s debut, which consisted of 36 minutes of unrelenting brilliance. Sadly it seems that the reverse to that old adage “no great art was ever created without suffering” does not hold here, and that, in The Strokes case, suffering does not necessarily beget great art.
2.5/5
Download: Metabolism
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