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Rating: After a break of about three years, caused by the singer's crisis and later by her maternity, the Cranberries make a comeback with an album titled 'Bury The Hatchet'. Indeed, if the Cranberries had long made headlines due to their polemic verve, which particularly characterized their last work, 'To The Faithful Departed', now the band seems to have laid down their arms.
What disarms the Cranberries is the beauty of life, with its joys and satisfactions (probably all "thanks" to O'Riordan's maternity...). Although the band's serenity does not excite me as much as their anger, the album starts off great. Animal Instinct is a sweet song with a nice sound, and it speaks about maternal instinct. It's an excellent track, and equally good is Loud&Clear, where the singer appears quite angry ("I hope you punch a hole wherever you drive, I hope the sun beats down on you and skins you alive!"), and even more so Promises, the first single released and a nice Hollywood-style piece. The song's theme is divorce, and the vocalist is absolutely against it (apparently, the hatchet isn't entirely buried yet...).
You&Me, a song dedicated to Dolores's son, is also beautiful, sweet and calm. Just My Imagination is, in my opinion, a very cute piece, perhaps too pop, certainly not among the most beautiful, but it’s a positive track that gives the album some zest. Absolutely stunning are Shattered, very melancholic, and Desperate Andy, one of the most beautiful moments of the record, also due to the crazy vocalizing and the carefree and overwhelming sound.
From here, however, an inevitable decline in quality begins. If the first part of the album plus a few final songs deserve five stars, some tracks lower the average. Saving Grace, Copycat, and What's On My Mind are nice pieces but not exciting and don't say much. The level of the album rises again with Delilah, a particularly shouted rock piece by the singer, who takes issue with a girl, Delilah, who flirted with her husband. A small but strong glimpse of controversy is also found in the beautiful Fee Fi Fo, a song against pedophilia where the theme is addressed without too many euphemisms.
Very beautiful is also the delicate Dying In the Sun, where Dolores recounts her depression. The album closes with a particular song, Sorry Son, which at first listen might seem boring but proves interesting and pleasant. The album ends here, the 'Complete Session' continues, however, with two rather weak and trivial songs, Baby Blue and The Sweetest Thing, and three very interesting and positive songs that should have absolutely been replaced, in my opinion, in the official version of the album with the three tracks I mentioned above as negative (Saving Grace, Copycat, and What's On My Mind). They are Woman Without Pride, Such A Shame, and Paparazzi On Mopeds, which from the title seem to be at odds with the album's name but would have added something to the penultimate work of the band, which is overall nice but not as expected from the Cranberries.
It is evident that the Irish group has taken another path, and they themselves will realize this and try to go back without much success in their next work. 'Bury The Hatchet' contains historic tracks and magnificent songs, forcibly paired with rather weak and uninspired tunes, and even the bonus tracks overall are not at the level of those of the previous albums. Four stars for the simple fact that the negative songs are the distinct minority, and there are too many masterpieces.
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