MattThe Foals have been around for several years now and are always pushing the boundaries of their music. Never have they been ones to notice that a certain style works and have cashed in on that but instead every album creates something new as if their going through some new phase with interest. It always brings excitement as to what will happen next with the Foals and what will they come up with next time around but now the waits over and here we have the spectacular ‘Holy Fire’ which is a wealth of rock smashing and popping boundary pushing songs.
They’ve always been ones who have proven to be intelligent, innovative and creatively talented but yet they are also sometimes difficult. They’re an extremely picky band. Look at their 2008 album ‘Antidotes’ which didn’t even have the hit single which kicked their career into gear. It was that pop smash hit ‘Hummer’ which always got the indie party going and everyone bouncing but their music has evolved into something else since those long days. ‘Holy Fire’ is an album which screams thought and progression to the next level. The band has really gone all out on this and it feels like a long melody and beautiful symphony of music.
The energy in a lot of the songs and immense build up to this can be best seen in ‘Late Night’ which starts off as a slow one then suddenly thrusting you into a bursting guitar riff which basically sums up this album from the get go. ‘Milk & Black Spiders’ has the gallop from a drum beat which progresses into detailed guitar strings bringing on a case load of emotion put into it. This has the essence of what the band are now and what they’ve really become over this long period.
Songs like ‘Out of The Woods’ and ‘Numbers’ retains the past of the band with the subtle hints of ‘Antidotes.’ ‘Out of The Woods’ feels like the ‘Balloons’ come back but is squashed again but mass riffs from the powerful guitars and ‘Numbers’ feels heavily like it should really be featured on a past album but the feeling of why it’s there is understandable. It gives it that foot tap feel which can casually be lost in ‘Holy Fire’ due to the strong rock out guitar which will get you doing air guitar rather than bounce up and down.
The highlight song has to be ‘Providence’ which seriously focuses on an all out drum beat pounding away and suddenly is brought together with an array of instruments. Lead, Yannis, plays his voice out like an orchestral symphony giving it that urge to power through and feel the moment.
Overall, this is an album you won’t forget, or put down. Its a sudden up lift from their previous work and from looking at their short few year history you can still see that creative input which has built this album. Looking at similar bands like ‘Bloc Party,’ who have done the same style, which is build up this form of sound as if to find what suits them. Its worked well and its exciting to see what lies ahead.
9/10