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Mclusky – The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not on Fire
The third album from Welsh trio Mclusky, now complete with a brand spanking new drummer, opens with a strong statement of intent with Without MSG I Am Nothing, a quite frankly unhinged cut of rock complete with evil buzzing bass, unnerving high pitched guitar and vocals and a chanted chorus of “everywhere I look is a darkness”. Basically from the very start they want you to know that yes, they still rock and yes, they’re still hanging dangerously over the cliff edge of sanity. I don’t think there’s a single bad track on this album. That Man Will Not Hang gives us another hard rocker with catchy choruses that they have graced us with on their previous albums so often. She Will Only Bring You Happiness is a more chilled out affair with the wonderful refrain of “our old singer is a sex criminal”. Slay! takes the quiet/loud song dynamic to new levels by flitting between near silence and walls of pure noise. Forget About Him I’m Mint brings trumpets into the equation as well as the line “everywhere I go I want to travel on my man legs (man legs)”. 1956 And All That has some of the most wonderfully weird surf rock guitar buzzing you’ll ever hear. This is stuff Mclusky have always done well, short sharp shocks of angry Pixies-if-they-were-crazy-Welsh-guys rock. But as if to prove something the final track, Support Systems, is a slow and smouldering fuse which finally explodes into dirty noise, then does it again before slowly disappearing into the quiet guitar noodling from whence it came and at 7:51 is the longest song Mclusky have released yet (at least to my knowledge). I’ve mentioned about half the songs on the album and feel guilty about missing out so many other blinders. This is the sound of one of the world’s best bands getting bigger, badder and better and is just about as vital to have as your liver, go get it.
10 out of 10