Morrissey: World Peace is None of Your Business Album Review.

Morrissey: World Peace is None of Your Business Album Review.

Morrissey never fails to give less than 100% in anything he does. Since October last year when he returned to the public eye with his astounding auto-biography and the infamous "@Morrissey" twitter account, he has now released a new album for the first time in five years, its called World Peace is None of Your Business and Morrissey give nothing less than 100%.

Morrissey is no stranger to disappearing from normality and then making a grand return. His last return from a hiatus was in 2004 when he released "You are the Quarry" which was an album full of spirit and fighting talk, and this new release contains those same features. He thrives on being the odd one out. The title track finds Morrissey in a battle with the ruling classes "Each time you vote, you support the process" whilst accompanied by raspy guitars. There is no question that the album is full of spirit, "I am not a man" is a seven minute epic and "Kick the bride down the aisle" is Morrissey expressing his hate of marriage and companionship, or the song could be based on bad marital experience, as expressed in the line "she just wants a slave to break his back in pursuit of a living wage" seems to tell the story of an unhappy marriage and Morrissey is keen to point out the flaws in the bride, maybe he is suggesting that the bride should be killed and thus "kicked" down the aisle. 

The first song that immediately jumped out at me was "Istanbul" which is about searching for a son who has died, there are many features to this song that have not appeared in any Morrissey track before. The guitars sound heavy and raspy unlike any other so this could signal a new direction for Morrissey. All in all the album is typical Morrissey, but that is what we know and love. He has the unique ability to express every emotion in one move or song, the song staircase at the university is about the pressures of exam results on students with "demanding" parents and the melody is that of a pop song. Then Morrissey puts a negative spin on it, which bizarrely compliments the song and that what Morrissey is all about. Its definitely one of his best solo albums and in the light of recent events it might well be his last. He has said recently that the record label (Harvest) have dropped him from the label, something which they themselves deny because according to their contract he owes them another album so their might well be a follow up, but with apparent fallout will it be as good as this one? Only time will tell.

Darlia Knock Knock EP Review

Knock Knock EP (Darlia) 

The NME says that Darlia are British grunge's new hope and along with the likes of Drenge have started to gain more recognition for their dirty, distorted sound. I recently purchased their EP Knock Knock and here is a mini review about it.

Manchester via Blackpool three piece Darlia have a distinct love of dirty, filthy sounds from the early 90's grunge period in America, coupled with powerful dark lyrics it makes for a great sounding EP. 

First track on the EP is the brilliant Queen of Hearts which has an incredibly powerful chorus and the hooks are as massive as the lyrics are dark, the lead singer (Nathan Day) asks "Anyone up for a kill, I don't like the way they looked at me" which launches into the loud chorus. There are some Nirvana influences in this EP not only because Nathan looks like Kurt but the riffs and lyrics bind together to create a grunge feel which I think sounds fantastic. 

The next track is entitled Napalm, and again its high tempo and grunge inspired sound blend together to create a great song at hyper speed, with sounds of the Pixies and the slightly softer sound of early Wombats despite the loud shudder of the chorus, Choke on Bones rounds off this EP channeling Queens Of The Stone Age its very exciting with a thumping bass line and dark sounding guitar riffs which gives the song a distinct and spine chilling sound almost reminiscent of Humbug Arctic Monkeys with the unknown riffs creating an eerie sound.

Overall I think this EP is a fantastic mix of grunge and dirty sounding guitars coupled with loud vocals, I hope in 2014 Darlia go on to release an album they could become the most exciting band of 2014.

 You can purchase the EP now.