Future Of The Left – The Plot Against Common Sense (Xtra Mile)
Release date: 11 June 2012
Returning with their third studio album, Future Of The Left are a different incarnation since they last dropped a record. With Kelson Mathias out of the picture, the band find themselves a four-piece, with a line-up that now boasts ex-Million Dead bassist Julia Ruzicka as well as a new guitarist. With any line-up change, it's easy to worry about which direction a band might take – luckily FOTL have left us with little to worry about with The Plot Against Common Sense.
Lead single Sheena Is A T-Shirt Salesman ticks all the right boxes as it hammers its way between your ears for a solid two minutes of crunching riffs and berserk vocals. The heady mixture sets the bar high, and by the time they break out the pulverizing bass lines in Beneath The Waves An Ocean it's clear the bar is constantly rolling.
Highlights are fed to us in droves – Polymers Are Forever is a lesson in hypnosis, the keyboards and chorus of 'ba ba ba ba' capable of setting the minds of a small nation in trance (it's a good job Falco doesn't use his powers for evil, else we'd all be in trouble). Falco's razor sharp tongue cuts Hollywood down to size in one fell swoop during Robocop 4 – Fuck Off Robocop, whilst he unleashes quite frankly the best rant I've heard in ages – film-producers take heed! Closer Notes On Achieving Orbit also packs some pretty tough punches.
At a mammoth fifteen tracks, The Plot Against Common Sense could benefit from a short back and sides to reveal a leaner, meaner version of itself. But it's a great record despite its few flaws, and at least you can't accuse them of being tight bastards (it is a double dip recession after all!). Besides, any album which can make you question your own moral existence with a cocktail of comedic wit (however mocking it may be) and a barrage of riffs without the crossover into the dreaded 'comedy-band' territory really does deserve some attention. Well played!
Recommended if you like: McLusky, Pulled Apart By Horses, Joeyfat