Ten studio albums down the line, most bands tend to slide into either stylistic complacency, or worse, total obscurity. As the elder statesmen of rock, Therapy? have decided that the best way forward is to recreate the sound of their younger years.
Having toyed with their style on albums like Infernal Love and High Anxiety to variable effect, this latest offering is a true return to menacing, Pleasure Death-era form. The line-up has been whittled back down to a team of three, which goes some way to explaining the uneasy, pent-up energy evident on tracks like ‘So Called Life’ and ‘Long Distance’. ‘Die Like A Motherfucker’ is sure to cause mayhem at live shows, yet ‘Last One To Heaven’s A Loser’ is as juvenile-sounding as its trite title suggests.
Overall, Never Apologise, Never Explain is joyously and reassuringly loud, though it’s difficult to pinpoint any track which boasts the truly anthemic power of ‘Teethgrinder’ or, for that matter, ‘Die Laughing’. ‘Dead’ is perhaps the closest thing to a track that boasts cross-over appeal. Other than that, Andy Cairns and co. are back to being uncompromisingly, relentlessly and unapologetically loud…and the album is certainly all the better for it.
Seemingly happy enough to leave the poppy, Americanised stuff to the likes of The Darkness, Therapy? have decided to concentrate on being ballsier than any other British or Irish rock act. Overall, Never Apologise, Never Explain is not-so-plain sailing in some rather wonderfully scuzzy and choppy waters.