Blindness. The Murder Capital

Once again we present three albums in far shorter reviews, as we do not want them to get away. Here's the second.

Blindness was on the point of receiving a review for a few weeks now and always was passed by. Partly because a download is so much easier to access than a link leading to a website where you can take a pre-listen. That email often simply disappears in the dozens and dozens coming in each week. The fact that Blindness kept hovering in the back of my mind, is telling of course.

Dublin's The Murder Capital has released its third album. With Fontaines DC having turned over the post punk page, The Murder Capital is now Dublin's front runner. Although I have both the band's previous albums, 'When I Have Fears' (2019) and 'Gigi's Recovery' (2023), they did not convince me in the long run. When all is said and done I miss melody in several songs, resulting in me stopping to play the album.

So with Blindness out for only a few days*, it is impossible to predict for sure where the album will go in the long run. As is usual by now for The Murder Capital albums, Blindness' rocking openers go down like the proverbial knife through butter. The opening songs are really strong and have my blood pumping. The whole band is going at it at full power. I have the impression no one is holding back. Singer James McGovern is at his most postpunk sounding. At the same time there is an effect on his voice that makes it sound a little metallic.

Take 'A Distant Smile'. The song has a 60s rock vibe but sounds so dirty at the same time. Just listen what that lead guitar is doing for most of the time. It's as if it wants to at a minimum escape from the song and at its worst kill it. Underneath it all is some kind of soundscape filling the whole of the mix. The result is a killer of a song.

Next some songs come along that are far less musical. The kind that make me doubt The Murder Capital all over again. In that it's not even that different from Fontaines DC but I nearly always remain on board with that band where I do not with The Murder Capital. That os the case with a song like 'The Fall'. Here the band really scores big in the postpunk universe. That much cannot be denied.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

*Before I stopped writing at the time.

 

You can listen to and order Blindness here:

https://themurdercapital.bandcamp.com/album/blindness