This band. This incredible band. This faaakin’ band. They’re my local heroes. I ran into Frank in my local garden center recently. That’s how local this band are. Their first album was a revelation to me. The incredible Blossom showed a return to the hard sounds of Frank’s first band Gallows, after his power pop years in Pure Love.
I did not know Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes were coming until Blossom stamped it’s boots on my doorstep a few years back. I saw them play with The Bronx and at Download before we got album number two. The more expansive and textured Modern Ruin upped their game considerably. They started headlining in their own right and owned their sound. When they played festivals people would abandon the other stages to witness the chaos. Live album 23 released between Modern Ruin and this years masterpiece End Of Suffering was a document of a band in the ascending.
The album to crown their opening act is an even more varied and textured affair than the last. End Of Suffering is more than a collection of songs. It’s a work of art in the form of an LP. The same way all those classics that get documentaries made about them are. It arrived as a multi formatted , multi media, full colour 3D immersive experience. One I have resubmerged myself in many times in 2019. I find salvation and strength in these songs.
The band that gave us Juggernaut and I Hate You just five short years ago can now do movie monster made song swaggering riffs like Tyrant Lizard King (featuring a real live Rager against the Machinies), heartfelt confessional pop punk like Anxiety, hedonistic metal anthems like Kitty Sucker and tender Nick Cave standard piano ballads like the albums title track. This song is a fragile, gentle, spiderweb doily of a tune surrounded by snarling animals.
It’s been a good year for punk rock. It’s been a better year for Frank Carter and his Rattlesnakes. I’m not sure I’m ready for album number 4 for a little while yet. As a trilogy goes (plus a live document) Blossom to Modern Ruin and the End Of Suffering is a wonderful journey. The remixes that are surfacing at the moment of End Of Suffering’s tracks are adding dimensions to the existing cannon. I’m stuck in the summer watching them slay live.
Happy New Year!
Steve For The Deaf 