Album Review: Mogwai, The Bad Fire

Every two years or so, since 1997, Mogwai have released a damn fine record, and that gold standard continues apace on The Bad Fire, the band’s 11th LP. Its predecessor, As The Love Continues, scored Mogwai’s first Number 1 UK Album, an incredible feat for the comparatively tiny independent Rock Action label, run by the band’s frontman Stuart Braithwaite.

He attributed the chart-topper to the enthusiasm of online fans (including one Elijah Wood) and the support of BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as people buying vinyl copies and CDs from independent retail shops (Official Charts Company prizes the value of physical record sales over streams when making its ranking). Old school methods. Go figure.

Oh, and the record was a total banger, which helped. So too is the heavenly The Bad Fire, although the title is a Scottish colloquialism for hell, and the title of the opening track – ‘God Gets You Back’ – portends doom. Indeed, the album is inspired by some difficult times that the band have faced in their personal lives. And yet the record majestically transcends the gloom, with a celestial beauty triumphing over the darkness.

The marvellously titled ‘If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some Of The Others’ begins with a handful of lonely guitar notes being gradually and beautifully adorned into an exhilarating, impassioned and fierce call to arms. Elsewhere, the opening line of ‘18 Volcanoes’, “Hope has come another day”, neatly sums up the record's vibe, which the sparky ‘Hammer Room’ and wonderfully stirring ‘Lion Rumpus’ double down on. Pure Mogwai. Pure brilliant.

9/10

Out now