Placebo are a life changing band for me, I heard half of 'Nancy Boy' on the radio in 1996 and was instantly hooked. So the prospect of their first album since Loud Like Love in 2013 fills me with excitement, but also some nervousness.
I want the bands I love to grow and not be stuck in the past; but the itch of nostalgia also definitely wants scratching. I needn't have worried, Never Let Me Go immediately feels like coming home in all the right ways, the home you live in now which contains all the bits of past you, rather than the teenage bedroom that hasn't been touched since you moved out.
The album kicks off with 'Forever Chemicals' and its opening is reminiscent of Big Black's Kerosene (never a bad thing) which then immediately becomes unmistakably Placebo as soon as Brian Molko's vocals kick in.
The album is full of layer upon layer of synths, guitars and drum machines all coming together into something that sounds great on record. Where I think this album will really shine though is live. The layers of sound have the potential to become something you can really get lost in live.
Every Placebo gig I've ever been to has had an audience made up of people of all ages and I can easily imagine such an audience singing the songs of Never Let Me Go at the top of their lungs.
For me, the best Placebo tracks are those which tell a story from a singular standpoint which the listeners can then take and make their own (an approach the band very much encourage). This continues to be true with Never Let Me Go and it's standout tracks of 'Beautiful James' a soaring keyboard led love song and 'The Prodigal' an anthem to the importance and joy being yourself even when that means not fitting in with those around you, which adds some strings into the mix.
Never Let Me Go sounds distinctly Placebo, but does more than just rehash past glories; it stands on its own as a record that will please the old timers like me but also find new fans.
Never Let Me Go is released on March 25th, click HERE to purchase from their music store
Review by Kelly Mercer
