my bloody valentine - mbv

My Bloody Valentine

mbv
self released; 2013

5 out of 5

So this is our first 5 out of 5 review - it may not be that surprising. This is an almost perfect near-masterpiece and probably album of the year-I didn't expect a miracle to be honest but this is even better than I hoped for. MBV is surprisingly good and fresh-sounding. A lot can go wrong when a band has an excessive amount of time to record/revise (think G n' R's "Chinese Democracy" which most certainly did not live up to the hype). Thankfully, that is not the case here and for the most part, MBV delivers. The songs are direct and focused and while the trademark sound is still there (fractured guitar drone and ethereal vocals), there is a new reliance on 7th chords which gives this an updated sound. MBV is not stuck back in the 90's which was my biggest fear before listening to this. My only gripe is a couple of songs which seemed more like half-baked ideas than fully realized songs (she found now, is this and yes), but the other tracks more than make up for this. MBV is a worthy successor to "Loveless" and well worth the wait. PS The jet-engine sample in Wonder 2 is one of the coolest things I've heard in the past few years.

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