Placebo – Loud Like Love

Doing emotional rock the right way for a long while now has been Brits Placebo....
Placebo : Loud Like Love
7.6 Universal
2013 

Placebo : Loud Like LoveWhen emotional rock got shortened to ‘emo’, it started that style of music’s descent into becoming the soundtrack for depressed teens (and, eventually, a subject of mockery by South Park).  Yet there’s nothing wrong with it, if done the right way (and not by twenty-somethings singing about being dumped in high school…).  Doing it the right way for a long while now has been Brits Placebo, who continue to do so on Loud Like Love.

Rather unsurprisingly, the best song on Loud Like Love is the title track/opener, which is epic and emotional in the right ways.  Throughout the record, singer/guitarist Brian Molko doesn’t feel like a whiner when he cries out about his issues – okay, single “Too Many Friends” feels a bit emo overwrought just because of the Facebook-related lyrical subject (likely it was the band’s major label Universal that wanted it to be the first single, to tap into the profitable emo-Facebook market…), but “Rob the Bank” sees his IMF-related lyrics actually work as a metaphor.  A few times the band don’t land squarely on their feet (“Hold On To Me” can’t decide what it is, while “Purify” is too straightforward in ‘trying to be tough’), but mostly Loud Like Love delivers.  And they deserve kudos for retaining their androgyny (such as singing about loving a man on orchestral closer “Bosco”), which the band started long before today’s LGBT-friendly environment (this is the band that played at the 50th birthday party performance at Madison Square Garden by the original gender-bender, David Bowie…).

Admittedly, on their new record Placebo don’t quite hit their highest highs, like prior singles “Pure Morning” or “Meds” (though the former also had a great video, and the latter also featured Allison Mosshart of The Kills – QRO live review).  But it’s another worthwhile entry by a worthwhile band.

Placebo – Loud Like Love

Categories
Album Reviews
Album of the Week