Placebo
(Vagrant)
On Placebo's long awaited sixth album "Battle for the Sun" the song "Kitty Litter" includes the refrain. "I need a change of skin." There's little question that's just what the U.K. rockers have since drummer Steve Forrest was replaced by Steve Hewitt. Although a lineup change is always unsettling, it doesn't seem to have adversely affected the band, which sounds as musically solid as ever hammering out the band's signature sound.
The issue with this CD comes down to that sound. Either you love the punk-alt mix Placebo brings to the table or you find it tough to swallow. All music is subjective, of course, but perhaps this more than most. There's no respite, no gray, in this sound. It's all Placebo hard hitting, intense, in your face, all the time. Maybe not Aiden mixed with Tokyo Police Club, but you get the idea.
For all the fuss that's been made in the media about the band members wanting to "step out of the darkness and into the light," - to quote frontman Brian Molko in ChartAttack - the album is pretty dark.
Lyrics such as "No one cares when you're out on the street/Picking up the pieces to make ends meet/No one cares when you're down in the gutter/
Got no friends, got no lover," from "For What It's Worth" gives you a taste of those on other songs. This album is either the last one you'd want to hear when you're on a rant or the first one, depending on how quickly you want to pull out of the mood.
Only you can decide that.
Standout Tracks: "Kitty Litter," "For What It's Worth" NANCY DUNHAM
