Album Review: 5 Billion In Diamonds, 5 Billion In Demands

5 Billion In Diamonds are the newest supergroup on the block, and the names involved are so powerful it’d make Stan Lee himself envious. Featuring Garbage’s Butch Vig, acclaimed DJ James Grillo and producer Andy Jenks as the band’s core, they’ve also enlisted members of Goldfrapp, Suede, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Spiritualized and more to amp up the star-power for their debut LP. Inspired by cult film soundtracks, psychedelia, English folk and forgotten ’60s vocal groups such as The Free Design, the ten-track effort sounds immaculate.

While there’s no doubting the band’s hearts are in the right place, 5 Billion In Diamonds isn’t quite the home run we hoped for. Suffering from a lack of memorable hooks and sounding slightly bloated (‘Paraphernalia,’ ‘Broken Wing’), there’s enough good material for an EP, but that’s it. On the plus side, ‘Travelling’ is a tremendous, Jethro Tull-style frolic that owes a debt to the Wicker Man OST. ‘I’m Becoming You’, meanwhile, is also quite seductive, thanks to a hypnotic beat and hushed boy/girl vocals. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough songs of similar quality to make this an all-out winner.