"devil's rock-n-roll law" (The Birthday - Blood And Love Circus)

The Birthday
Blood And Love Circus

why you'll love it: the best loud dumb rock and roll album of 2015

why you'll hate it: Some cheesy lyrics, nothing ambitious

I've got a new tagline for The Birthday: Best middle-eight in the business!  They've shown the knack to turn me around on a song before.  My favorite album of theirs (2010's Star Blows) opens up with frontman, Chiba Yusuke, screaming "I'VE GOT A FREE STONE, YEAH".  It's a cringey line, but after 5 minutes, you may find yourself singing along to one of the silliest choruses in rock n roll.  That's the power The Birthday wields, and it's used to great effect on their latest album, Blood And Love Circus.

Most of The Birthday's latest batch of songs aren't "saved" by an incredible guitar solo and bridge.  They're already good songs, catapulted into the upper stratosphere.  The solo and proceeding breakdown of "I Know" is pretty much my favorite rock moment of 2015.  "Twenty Four"'s moment of surf-thrash is a close second.  "Door", "Sombrerose", and "Billy Black" mutate their final verses into fist-raising powerhouses.

The only two songs that need to overcome Chiba Yusuke's now typical odd use of Western slang are "Rock Your Animal" and "Love Shot".  "Rock Your Animal"  comes off as the kind of song that may depend on your blood alcohol content.  It has a traditional addictive western garage rock riff, but lyrics that are dumb as mud.  "Love Shot" is saved by the best damn middle-eight in the business (this branding is a work in progress).  If you can hang with it for 2 minutes, you'll be rewarded with the swinging beat morphing into a whirling dervish.

With a few weird English lines expected, the only real drawback I can assign to The Birthday's 8th album is that it finds them playing it safe.  No song comes close to any of their bigger, wilder, or more melodically experimental moments in the past.  I'd probably harp on this more if this wasn't a comeback album of sorts.  Last year's Come Together is the only significant blemish in their discography.  It was mostly brutish and messy.  Their mojo is 95% back on this latest LP.  That other 5% goes to the the quick and dirty track, "Shan Shan".  It has that "needless b-side" feeling to it, as most of Come Together had.

The most experimentation heard on this album is very subtle, and probably coincidental.  It's a little bit of psychobilly influence.  There is a carnival sideshow like rhythm to "Love Shot" and "FullbodyのBlood".  Probably the best use of this influence is the guitar effects used in "Mother".  How do I explain this sound?  You've heard it before.  You know in like 70's detective tv shows/movies, when there is a car chase, and it has that "wakka-chu wakka-chu" guitar sound?  Don't look at me like that, just nod!  yeah, that! Anyway, it helps make "Mother" one of the best songs on here, contested by "I Know".  It's a shame the two early singles are the best songs on the album, but this is an addictive one.  It's got consistency and ability to deliver an unfiltered wild rock and roll in a year where there is little of that to be found.  I may just be high on The Birthday finding their groove again, but Blood And Love Circus is muscling its way into my very competitive top ten of 2015.