Воскресенье 15 Авг 2010, 10:58

New Model Army - Eight
Released : 2000

And so we move onto E, and yes Immortella you guessed correctly!!! The first appearance of my favourite band New Model Army on my list. I have this album on CD and is the most treasured CD in my collection. Not only because it's an excellent album but because it is the only album I own which has been signed. Not only that, but signed by my music idol. Yes, when NMA toured this album in March 2000, I saw them in Manchester and was lucky enough to meet Justin Sullivan after the gig and he was kind enough to sign the album for me. Me and my mate (known on Last.FM as Hawkdeath) waited for about an hour that night outside the club, and eventually saw Justin sneaking out the backdoor walking down the road to get a curry. Luckily I was on hand to scream “JUSTIN!! JUSTIN!!” like a teenage girl, and he came over and gave us a couple of autographs – nice guy.

If I start writing about how much I love this band I will be here all night, but I will say my older sister is again responsible for me being a fan. In fact, I have 2 older sisters, both of which are NMA fans, one married a guy who was also an NMA fan and they now have a daughter who is an NMA fan, so this band really does run in the family.

So onto the album.. There was a 4 year wait after strange brotherhood was released, and it was definitely worth waiting for. This album marked a change of direction for the band, mainly I think because Rob Heaton (RIP) only collaborated on one of the tracks – (Flying Through The Smoke) so to me it sounded almost like a Justin Sullivan album rather than an NMA album, which is no bad thing. It is a very poetic album and the music takes a back seat to lyrics in tracks like Someone Like Jesus, You Weren't There and Leeds Road 3am – these tracks really set the album apart from other NMA releases.

The rockier tracks on the album are Stranger, Orange Tree Roads, and R&R which has some great lyrics - “It was a century of answers \ and all of them have been wrong \ Wake me in a thousand years” springs to mind and paints a cynical view of humanity over recent generations. Also on the album is Snelsmore Wood, a song Justin wrote about the Newbury protests which was finally released after being cut from Strange Brotherhood, and Paekakariki Beach – a beautiful, atmospheric song which complements Justin's vocals really well.

All in all, this is a very artistic album. Musically, it is very diverse and lyrically very passionate.

Honourable Mentions:

Neurosis - Enemy of the Sun
Megadeth - Endgame
Ed Alleyne-Johnson - Echoes