Placebo - Battle For The Sun

Sometimes it's possible to get into a band completely at random, even if they've been around longer than you've been a music listener. This happened recently for me, when I happened across Placebo's cover of "Running Up That Hill" in the trailer for the movie Daybreakers. After finding the full track and enjoying it, I sought out more from this mystery band that I'd somehow missed, despite them being around since I was just 14 years old. 
 
Battle For The Sun is the band's 6th studio album, and the first with the new drummer Steve Forrest. The album sees the band take another step forward, away from the sparse musical style of their first albums. Here, they experiment with new instruments, and tie the album together with a coherent theme running through all the tracks. According to lead singer Brian Molko, the album is more positive in its outlook than previous offerings. In an interview with NME, he said:

"We've made a record about choosing life, and choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light. Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because it's there, it's essential; it's a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead." - Brian Molko

I got the special edition of the album from Amazon, which comes in a very nice book-style package. In the front cover is the CD itself, and a documentary DVD is tucked into the back. The pages contain the liner notes, all lyrics and some photographs and artwork of the band. It's a very nicely presented package and I took great pleasure in looking through it while listening to the music. 


The music itself is a good mix of hard rock riffs, heavy basslines and lyrics that are easy to sing along to. By and large, every track delivers although there are a couple of relatively uninteresting bits. The opening track, Kitty Litter, while being a good solid rock song, doesn't quite hook into the brain the way some of the others do.


Other tracks have unusual parts that leave some reviewers cold, and others enthused. The hard repetition in the title track is strange to listen to at first, but soon grows on you and is actually a very good track. The bizarre inclusion of a toy piano's built-in melody right in the middle of For What It's Worth is another moment that is a bit of a surprise. 


It's hard to pick out a few favourites, but the ones I find myself playing to myself in my head are, in no particular order:

• Ashtray Heart After the band's original name, this is a straight up catchy rock song.
• Battle for the Sun Strange on first listen, but actually very good
• For What It's Worth Solid rock song with a strange toy piano bit in the middle.
• Devil In The Details Good song that captures the ethos of the album.

There has been a lot of nay-saying about this album. Some say it deviates too far from Placebo's roots. Some say it's just not good enough to qualify in the current market. Some say that only hardcore fans will like it. I would say that perhaps they're looking for too much meaning behing their choice in music. It's a good rock album that bears repeat listening, and will have you humming the tunes to yourself after the first couple of listens.


Placebo website 
Battle for the Sun on Wikipedia