Tonight, Fugazi weeps as The Futureheads’ suburban punk-rock act provides little but hasty power-chords, boring percussion and too-clean vocals in their spectacularly mundane alt-rock album The Chaos.
A bland imitation of “clean” punk (an oxymoron if ever there was one), The Futureheads’ new album, The Chaos, sounds like yet another faceless alternative-rock band doing what they do best. Constructed with all the ingenuity of a middle-school rock band, most of whose songs were in fact learned on RockBand, The Chaos rarely delineates from the acutely mediocre song structure of three to four regularly timed power chords, with some too-clean-for-comfort lyrics thrown on top, all over a regular 4/4 cymbal/snare beat. It’s an album devoid of character that does not deserve the questionably stained, torn and ugly, albeit majestic, mantle of the punk genre.
Sounding more like a Warped Tour reject than anything else, The Futureheads, composed of Dave and Barry Hyde, Ross Millard and David Craig, and named after the Flaming Lips album Hit To Death In The Future Head, purportedly were not always so gut-wrenchingly clean cut, making in the past what have been described as “damn good tunes.” Touring in support of their self-titled album in 2004, they opened for not only Snow Patrol and The Foo Fighters (which, frankly, would make sense) but Pixies as well. It looked like they were doing something right. Now, however, we are left with an over-polished, under-conceived collection of half songs that rely too heavily on saccharine-sweet choruses and not enough on the messy, angry trashing of instruments and vocal chords.
However, despite the myriad character flaws in The Chaos, if we are to disassociate the album from the idea of punk, its baseline merits come more clearly into focus. For instance, when considered along the lines of mild mannered alt-rock, with a sprinkling of light, oh so light, British punk influence—namely early Buzzcocks records—then the album, while still mundane, can be regarded as more than just the same song and dance we’ve been hearing on “totally rad” alternative rock radio stations since 2000. It may not be much, but one must give credit where credit is due. While the few songs that might merit a repeat listen may not exactly be on every indie fan’s non-denominational winter holiday present list, they’re good enough to warrant a run through for those enamored with The Matches, with their safe punk-rock-from-the-suburbs sound and the rest of their ilk. After several listen-throughs of The Chaos, it is clear The Futureheads belong to this fraternity.
The first of these songs is “Sun Goes Down,” a song late in the album which calms down the harried guitar strumming of past songs, and layers Barry Hyde’s already grating lead vocals with those of the rest of the band, also adding a recognizable lead axe to the mix. Promising in a dusky, charmingly British chorus of varying volume that “the sun goes down and the double life begins / it’s a one way ticket to the city of sins,” the song is a welcome reprieve from the aimless, forgettable parade of alt-rock mediocrity, and strengthens the listener’s resolve to finish the album, which, at this point in the album, is undoubtedly wavering.
“Dart at the Map” is not as stand-out at “Sun Goes Down,” but still plays an important role as an example of what the album could have been if refinement of musicianship, rather than EQ levels, had been on the forefront of the band members’ minds. Unfortunately the song arrives at the end of the album, as the second-to-last track, long after this sort of assurance of quality was needed. Still, this is a song to be heard. Carried on the back of Barry Hyde’s now natural singing, and couched in catchy, if elementary, power chords, the track rises and falls rhythmically. It’s decently-written, less shiny, and well produced—three traits the rest of The Chaos could stand to pick up. And it’s why the song, being in as boring of a musical climate as it is, stands out.
Finally, we are left with “Jupiter,” which can be summed up in three words: Chorus and Lead Guitar. Meaning that, while these two song ingredients may have made an appearance earlier in the album, it is on “Jupiter” they are given center stage and make an impression, and that’s it. There’s a good chorus, there’s legitimate movement on the fretboard of what is no doubt a be-stickered electric guitar, and there’s also this weird minute of silence after which there’s an a capella performance from the whole band, including the drummer.
Here we have a less-than-ok album. I wouldn’t recommend it, and, to be honest, I regret having to listen to it for as long as I did. However, if at any time you are for some reason trapped in a box of some sort, with only a walkman, weird nineties earphones, and a copy of The Chaos, there are songs on the album that, at least, won’t speed your decent into madness. Try it out, if you have to.
Track List:
1. The Chaos
2. Struck Dumb
3. Heartbeat Song
4. Stop the Noise
5. The Connector
6. I Can Do That
7. Sun Goes Down
8. This Is Life
9. The Baron
10. Dart at the Map
11. Jupiter
