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Rating:
The Amazons arrive at their second, fateful studio effort with a hefty load of expectations.
After a debut that immediately hit the British top ten and after having graced the stages of various prestigious festivals, much was expected from this new "Future Dust," and expectations were not disappointed. Far from it.
The new work is at least a cut above its already excellent predecessor and a step forward in every way you listen to it. The four from Reading show no fear and thicken and harden the already excellent sound presented in their brilliant debut, take a decisive step forward in songwriting and maturity in execution, and manage all this without losing an ounce of accessibility or appeal.
"Mother," the first single also placed here as the album opener, is an undeniable knockout that brings to mind the best of Queens Of The Stone Age. Overall, the whole album seems to observe American rather than British stylistic cues more closely. The Oasis-isms with a Black Keys sauce from the debut only make a couple of cameo appearances, in the anthemic yet still pronounced "All Over Town" (which betrays ambitions of a stadium rock band, though still to be refined) and in the potential single "Dark Visions," the most accessible of the bunch.
The journey through the best American alt-rock continues briskly among the accelerations between indie and post-grunge of the delightful "Fuzzy Trees," in the indie rock proper of the promo track "25" (taken up later in an even more refined version), in the monumental "End Of Wonder" (which truly expresses the immense potential of these four English boys) and in the sudden and abrasive decelerations of the equally convincing "Warning Signs."
"Georgia" closes by citing the Eagles on a splendid, lucid, absolutely convincing album that finally gives us a rock band that successfully and personally reinterprets a formula that, in the hands of less talented bands, risks becoming stale and irritating.
A great album and a happy confirmation in this 2019 that has been truly satisfying so far.
Best track: End Of Wonder
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