February 10, 2011

Album Review: Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Rock Action)

Injecting their cacaphonic assualt with moments of subtle respite on their seventh studio album.

8 / 10 Other than creating mind-shredding, eardrum-perforating noise-rock, you can always count on Mogwai to come up with brilliant song titles, and ‘Hardcore…’ has some doozies.

The Tory-baiting ‘George Square Thatcher Death Party’ and ‘You’re Lionel Richie’ – a reference to the Glasgow-based ‘Easy Lionel’ viral video on YouTube (check it out, folks) – may well be the clear winners in the titter-some stakes, but they’re also significant markers in the Lanarkshire masters’ progression.

Sure, the likes of the lung-collapsing ‘Rano Pano’ and the slow building head-fuck of ‘How To Be A Werewolf’ are instantly recognisably Mogwai, but the synth-electro mash of ‘Mexican Grand Prix’ is a huge leap from the norm. See also ‘San Pedro’, which surprisingly, could be Queens Of The Stone Age. By giving a wide berth to the safety of the post-rock label they’ve long despised, Mogwai have recorded some of their finest songs since ‘Mr Beast’.

Jamie Crossan

8/10

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