Album Review: 'Violence' from Editors

Despite the singularity of its title, Editors’ 6th album is an exercise in contrasts. It balances tenderness with brutality – musically as well as lyrically. They could have called it Yin Yang but that would have been, let’s face it, crap. Replete with themes of isolation, on first track ‘Cold’ singer Tom Smith wails “It’s a lonely life, a long and lonely life/Stay with me and be a ghost tonight”.

The song comes off like a collaboration between Coldplay and U2 – two bands Editors have been compared to in the past. At times though, I get the unsettling feeling I’m listening to… who is it?… it’s niggling me now – Genesis!? Not sure about that, but let’s move on…

Produced by Leo Abrams and Editors, Benjamin John Power – AKA  Blanck Mass – was also recruited to twiddle some knobs, giving the synths a smooth and coruscating shimmer. It’s a perfect counterpoint to Justin Lockey’s earnest guitar-work. The potent mix of guitar and electronics, topped off with Smith’s versatile voice, delivers an album of solid if not earth-shattering material. I’m not going to say pop-rock, but damn it – I just did.

The bipolar quality of Violence is perfectly illustrated on ‘Hallelujah (So Low)’, where the deceptively seductive synth verses are blown aside by a thuggish guitar riff, while its tender side is exemplified in ‘No Sound But The Wind’. The latter is a soothing lullaby, sung by a father to his son (“I’m trying hard to hide your soul, son, from things it’s not meant to see”). Overall, a solid if unspectacular effort.

Record label: Play It Again Sam
Listen to: 'Hallelujah (So Low)'
Rating: 6/10