Album 6 - Violence

I'm with you. I'm abstaining... Possibly until the Roubaix show next Friday, if I can hold out that long!

It was on Version1 Setlist of the Birmingham Gig, so there is a chance to hear Belong live.

So, heard it:

1. Cold - For me one of the best Editors Songs, Love it

2. Hallelujah - The Beast of the record...Thumbs up

3. Violence - hm.. the wonderful lyrics got smashed under this beat. The outro is great, but I prefer the acoustic version

4. Darkness at the Door - I can´t sit, it makes me move..very radio friendly (apart from the lyrics)

5. Nothingness - We let iiiiit goooooo Yeah

6. Magazine - ok

7. NSBTW - Fantastic Version, has now the home where it deserves

8. Counting Spooks - Love the Outro

9. Belog - Belongs to me.


10. The Pulse - Live was not one of my favourites, but i lke the studio version

11. When we were Angels - Weird Song, sounds like a demo

Had my first full listen to the album and it’s hard to say how I feel about it. I enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would. I wish I’d listened to the album before seeing them performing the new material live. I feel it’s a bit over produced in places. Here’s the track by track review:

COLD - very similar to the live track we’ve been hearing over the last few months. A good opener but lacks that electronic punch of the live version. I might be the only one to like the ‘hey! Hey!’s’

HALLELUJAH (SO LOW) - we all know how this one goes. Definitely one of the few that aren’t overproduced, this actually sounds as strong and aggressive as the live version.

VIOLENCE - the thumping beat of the live version is present and is a favourite of mine but is let down by the long outro that for some reason doesn’t feature Tom’s shouts of ‘your violence is silence’ that are present in the live version. That one line along with the ‘vohhhhiolence’ really helped to build up this song which kinda falls flat on record.

DARKNESS AT THE DOOR - another favourite live last night, this one, for me, is the biggest example of overproduding. There’s far too much going on, Tom’s vocals become swamped in the noise and it all comes across a bit messy.

NOTHINGNESS - along with Hallelujah and Magazine, this is another song that sounds as strong as it does live, there’s lots going on but it flows together nicely and would work as a strong single.

MAGAZINE - first single and a very strong one at that, the other one that sounds as good as it’s live counterpart.

NO SOUND BUT THE WIND - never been a big fan of this one, BUT this version surprised me. Quietly epic and understated, Tom’s vocals along with the building of the piano and background noises makes this an emotional and definitive version of an old song.

COUNTING SPOOKS - possibly my favourite track on the album, all because of the second half of the song that is the funkiest they’ve ever sounded. This would have been amazing to hear live, hopefully they’ll perform it in October!

BELONG - I know a lot of you are digging this track but if personally has done nothing for me on first listen. I found it took too long to get going and didn’t grab my attention at all. The so called ‘epic’ ending for me didn’t happen. I’m hoping I’ll warm to it after a few more listens but as it stands it’s my least favourite track on the album.

THE PULSE - nigh on 2 years old now, this sounds very familiar but at the same time different. It’s a strong version but wouldn’t fit on the actual record. It definitely lacks Justin’s guitar for some reason and is replaced with some ‘woah woah’s. I enjoyed it but possibly not as good as the previous live version.

WHEN WE WERE ANGELS - don’t remember much of this on first listen, I will listen again to be more in depth about it.

I’d love to hear what you think of my review and if you agree with it :-)

will post my review later on

definitely will have to listen a few more times for final thoughts but i wasn't disappointed at all

all i care is that they accomplish new sounds with every album and reinvent themselves without losing who they are - which they are the undisputed masters of

good job fellas! this is definitely a memorable one albeit probably as polarizing as itl&ote was (which is good in my opinion)

If anyone could send me a PM with the link ir would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Long live Editors!

Ok, it's review time.

First off, I'm sorry but I have to rant a bit. Violence has the worst production of any Editors album to date. The guitars sound like they were recorded in another room, as do the vocals at points. The drums and the synths remind me of the worst cliches of 80s and 90s dance music, at best they sound like what teenage Richard was doing with Fruityloops. It makes the album sound hideously dated, and it's not going to age well. There are too many layers in the mix, too much needless reverb, and too much compression on top of it all. The songs are completely suffocated and it ruins the potential they might have had. Not even No Sound but the Wind gets out unscathed.

I don't mind Blanck Mass on his own or with Fuck Buttons, but he really wasn't needed here. I'm struggling to think of a positive contribution he might have made. I appreciate what Editors were going for and admire them for taking that leap, but the combination of the two artists turned out to be a total mismatch. Leo Abrahams doesn't help either. He neutered Wild Beasts and he's doing the same for Editors. The band did a great job self-producing In Dream. I wish they took the reins by themselves this time.

But I don't want to be negative this whole review, and there's a lot to praise here. The entirety of side B is great. Magazine is fun, catchy and energetic - pretty much all you could want from a pop single. No Sound but the Wind may be a little bit overdramatic but it's still a classic song, and they're moreorless faithful to what made it great in the first place. Counting Spooks probably has the best melodic progression of the whole album, and it's the biggest grower too. Belong proves how powerful Editors can be when they tone it down a bit, and it's actually one of their better closing tracks. Plus there's stuff I enjoy elsewhere too. Whilst I much prefer the acoustic version, the title track is a solid number with strong enough songwriting to work. Then there's the bonus track When We Were Angels. It's probably the weirdest thing Editors have done since ITLAOTE, and I love it. I want to hear them take more risks like this.

Then there's the rest of the album, and I'm not sure what to say. The only other Editors album I've been negative about was TWOYL, but that came more out of disappointment than actual dislike. The songwriting on that album was brilliant across the board, it's just that ill-fitting production decisions and insecure arrangements left it a shadow of what could've been. I've never out-and-out disliked an Editors song before*, so I was pretty sad to find that happening five times on the Violence deluxe edition. Cold and Nothingness live up to their names, Hallelujah is a failure of a rock song, and I don't even know what possessed the five of them to agree that Darkness at the Door was a good idea. The Pulse starts off with promise, but quickly falls apart like the crumbly cheese it is. It brings me no joy saying any of that. 

That said, I wasn't huge on TWOYL but I loved In Dream. Some days of the week In Dream is my favourite Editors album, so the fact they bounced back so spectacularly after a failure means this band is worth sticking it out for. Every album is totally different and there's every chance LP7 could be their best. But yeah, Violence is my least favourite Editors disc by far. If the production was actually good I could see it being a 3.5/5 but not too much more than that, given how little salvation I find in half the album. As it stands I fluctuate between 2 and 3/5.


*I forgot about the TWOYL b-sides when I wrote this. Nothing on here is that bad, thankfully.