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Rating: With the good "Glitterbug" three years ago, the Wombats unexpectedly established themselves as chart toppers, at least in their England.
Now comes this "Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life," their fourth studio effort, with which the Liverpool band seeks to solidify their acquired position. While commercially, the mission will likely succeed, artistically we find ourselves facing the usual good album from the trio. Certainly not a bad record, but not something that will make you jump out of your chair either.
The sound of the work decisively shifts from the absolutely predominant synth pop of the previous album to return to a pop rock language, though no less pompous, especially in some tracks. A clear example is the opener "Cheetah Tongue" which, while melodically engaging and convincing, perhaps falls into excess on the production level. The subsequent trio makes (erroneously) one think of a qualitative leap in the proposal of Murphy and company; the single "Lemon To A Knife Fight" plays (well) with an essential arrangement and a decent refrain, "Turn" is Madchester-esque and epic in the good sense of the word, "Black Flamingo" has a great drive and borrows the best elements from the Stereophonics and Snow Patrol's "Final Straw" era.
From there on, unfortunately, the premises are not confirmed. "White Eyes" and "Lethal Combination" are not bad tracks, but they don't go anywhere (the first poorly imitates the flattest U2, the second aims to be carefree but ends up just annoying and poorly crafted melodically); "I Only Wear Black" seems played by a tribute to the first two albums of the Strokes, the closing "I Don’t Know Why I Like But I Do" is simply boring and unfocused.
Things go a little better with "Ice Cream," which raises the bar a bit and at least dares with a couple of fresher solutions, and the indie rock of "Dip You In Your Honey," simultaneously Beatles-esque and modern.
“Beautiful People…” is a confirmation for the Wombats, but it doesn't move them an inch on the chessboard. The album is not bad but not essential either.
Best track: Black Flamingo
Tracklist
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