Now more than ever, survival's a herculean task in the dastardly music business. The highways are littered with the carcasses of potentially great bands who've been ripped apart before their time and deserved much better than to have their legacy scoffed by eager vultures.
So it's always heartening for this reviewer to show a little solidarity with a band who basically refuse to die despite years spent on the verges of the wilderness and the encroaching of that seemingly inevitable 'selective' appeal. Such stubbornness and a desire to remain a thorn in the side is highly commendable, especially when it's a band who've made a considerable contribution to rocking our world along the way.
Northern Irish veterans THERAPY? certainly qualify for such an accolade, even though their mid-90s heyday is long behind them. Yet, against the odds, they're still here, refusing to capitulate and still capable of kicking up a filthy racket when the mood strikes them.
It strikes them most of the time during the course of their new album, 'Crooked Timber' too. With Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill (Chili Peppers, Killing Joke) on board as producer, they have returned sounding more pissed-off and ornery than ever, urinating on words like 'compromise' from a very great height indeed.
In itself, this is a good thing, although it doesn't make for an easy ride for the listener and overall it's probably fair to say that 'Crooked Timber' is one for the committed fan. Tracks like 'Clowns Galore' and 'Blacken The Page' come steroid-ed up and baring their steely biceps, stomping around in a grey area between metal and hi-octane punk. They have structure, power and plot, but little in the way of melody outside of Andy Cairns' voice. 'Enjoy The Struggle”s title seems to say it all – it's the sound of strength through combined force of will, with a few samples and loops lobbed in as concessions to modernity. It reminds this reviewer very much of the cyber-metal paraded by Geezer Butler's G/Z/R project with a little of Killing Joke's self-titled album sprinkled in to leaven the bread. Well, sorta.
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So you'll have gleaned that 'Crooked Timber' probably won't satisfy those still hoping for more in the vein of the Therapy? greats likes 'Screamager', 'Knives' or 'Stories', though there's still good stuff on offer here if you're prepared to stay the course. 'The Head That Tried To Strangle Itself' boasts not only a splendid title, but also Cairns' finest obscene phone call vocals and a wonderfully oppressive atmosphere. The title track is a slowburning epic that succumbs to the band's more recognisable melodic instincts and 'Somnambulist' is vengeful, sleep-deprived rock'n'stress driven on by one of the most vicious circling basslines this writer has ever heard.
Overall, 'Crooked Timber' provokes admiration a lot quicker than love. It's sturdy going on monolithic and sounds like it could withstand en eruption of Vesuvian proportions. Whether it's enough to bring a new breed of fans onboard is debatable, but for sheer bloody-mindedness it's hard to beat. Against the odds, Therapy? continue to forge ahead kicking against the pricks. Good for them.
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