They may have begun life as a spindly math-rock outfit of questionable durability, but by 2010’s superb Total Life Forever, Oxford’s Foals had really hit their stride, particularly on the Ivor Novello-nominated ‘Spanish Sahara’. Whilst nothing on their much-hyped third quite matches the gold standard of that track, the good news is that Holy Fire is uniformly excellent.
From the off, you strongly suspect Yannis Philippakis & Co. will make good on their promise and potential, as the near-instrumental ‘Prelude’ twinkles into view, offers up some blues guitar and then starts to pummel. There’s little let-up from there – indeed, first single ‘Inhaler’ is a dirty glam-stomp, with nods to ‘90s nu-metal and some Jimmy Page riffage thrown in for good measure. There’s a new grit to Yannis’ voice too, and a swagger in the sound that defines a band all-too aware that they’re scarcely putting a foot wrong. You’d point to the inventive, hooky guitar-work as Holy Fire’s best feature if the songs themselves weren’t so impeccably penned. It is a record teeming with well-realised ideas. ‘My Number’ throws shapes with Franz Ferdinand and Empire Of The Sun at a roller disco, ‘Bad Habit’ is Grizzly Bear crying over a noisy pinball machine. If there is the briefest of brief lulls about three-quarters of the way through, the sleepy ‘Moon’ is a fittingly lovely lullaby to kiss the album goodnight. Foals can sleep easy: they’ve knocked another one out of the park. In short, Holy Fire burns bright.