Album Review: The Stranglers - "Dark Matters"

I have to admit, the announcement of a new Stranglers album this year was a bit of a surprise. The group had already been touting their upcoming tour (now rescheduled to next spring) as their final one before the tragic passing of keyboardist Dave Greenfield last year put a pretty comprehensive full stop on things. So I think it's safe to say there's a very good chance that Dark Matters may well be this legendary band's swansong.

Although eight of the eleven tracks here were completed prior to Greenfield's passing, there's a definite air of death and mortality hanging over Dark Matters with song titles like If Something's Gonna Kill Me (It Might As Well Be Love) as well as the hypnotic tribute to their fallen comrade And If You Should See Dave, the mournful Down and the gentle acoustic-led ode to aging The Lines.

Musically, Dark Matters is as varied and engrossing as you'd expect from the swirling psychedelia of opener Water through the spiky punk of This Song and Payday to  the grinding ominous Last Men On The Moon which could have come straight from their classic era with Greenfield's lightning speed keyboard playing being a particular standout. It's the closing one-two-three of the aforementioned Last Men On The Moon, the barrelling White Stallion and the truly stunning Breathless (which sounds like the classic Golden Brown's oddball waltz sound expanded in fine style to a six minute epic) that's the real jewel in the crown with this album though and elevates it up from being a good album to something genuinely great.

There seems to be a tendency among the over-excitable when it comes to new Stranglers albums to greet them with the hyperbole "maybe their best since The Raven!" Let's be honest, that's never quite gonna be the case because La Folie, Feline and Dreamtime are all good efforts as well and deserve better than to be cast off as poor relations. However, I will say that Dark Matters can certainly stake a valid claim to be the group's best effort since the era of Always The Sun et al and, although the group have come up with some good albums in their 21st century incarnation, this may just be the best one yet. Certainly if it does prove to be their final effort then it's a more than worthy way for this truly special band to bow out.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 (9/10)