Placebo
Battle For The Sun

After enduring the rigors of the promotional tour for "Meds", Steve Hewitt, drummer since 1996, decided to leave the band. In his place, Molko and Olsdal called in Steve Forrest, previously the drummer of the Evaline group.

Well, perhaps it's due to the front-line change or Brian Molko's new look (from the shaved head of "Meds" back to the sleek, long hair style of the group's early years), but the sound of this album differs greatly from that of previous works, and this can hardly be seen as a compliment.

Neutrally, it can be described as a perfectly styled Alternative Rock work, but even listening to just the first single "For What It's Worth", you can hear something is missing, that something that made Placebo what they are today. And it is a something made up of several components.

First of all, that mix of rock and electronics, which is absent here: as already explained, it's a perfect alternative rock work, but there is absolutely no trace of electronics. Goodbye to those tracks like "The Bitter End", which thrilled from the first listen. 

Secondly, there's a lack of creativity: "Battle For The Sun" is ultimately a collection of tracks that hardly stand out from one another: you don't find one in particular that stays with you: they are all beautiful, stylistically perfect, but cold and, in the end, monotonous. Yes, because one time it might be the first listen, another time the dark mood, another still the fatigue: but when you listen to an album seven times in a row and can't even remember a track (except for the single that radio stations launch daily on time), then unfortunately monotony must be mentioned. 

Ok, the electronics are missing... so what? Many think electronics are the ruin of music! Well, "Special Needs" didn't have anything electronic. Absolute zero. Just an electric bass line, the rhythm of the drums, and Brian Molko's voice. Well, here even this is missing. There are not even those dark ballads (to name another, Protect Me From What I Want, better known as "Protege-Moi"; or even Pure Morning, perhaps their most famous song) which in previous Placebo albums alternated with elegant Electro-Rock.

Let's talk about Placebo's musical research. Meds in this respect was the best album, meticulously crafted, from the elegance of "Infra-Red"'s bass riff to the captivating sound of the title-track. Here, the track that most shows signs of research is Kitty Litter, the opening piece of the disc, perhaps even defining itself as the best track of all the work. 

In two words, we can locate the sound of this album halfway between that of "Placebo" (debut album) and "Black Marlett Music" (the band's third work), taking the worst parts from both.

Molko has declared that the band has created a more "optimistic" album, which talks about how life should be lived: in hindsight, I preferred when Brian was sad, in true masterpieces like "Song To Say Goodbye"; better the disturbing covers like that of Meds rather than that bright image of a solar eclipse that appears on the cover of this album, but which does not associate with equally brilliant music. Perhaps Hewitt, rather than being exhausted by the "Meds" tour, had realized that something in Molko was changing. And for the worse... This is obviously a joke, but effective in making it clear how here we are dealing with a real involution of a group that became famous for having a style, defined by Molko's voice and the unmistakable sound. If it weren't for the first of those qualities, this album could easily be mistaken for a work of any Alternative band (Camel, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys: big names, but which have nothing to do with Placebo).

In conclusion: this album reveals a lack of ideas, originality, research and innovation, typical characteristics of Placebo's previous albums (almost all masterpieces, if we want to exclude the first). Let's hope that the cause is truly the fatigue of the tour that led to Steve Hewitt's departure and that the band returns soon with work worthy of its name.