Album Review: Fontaines DC - "Skinty Fia"

 

After a shaky debut, Fontaines DC's 2020 sophomore album A Hero's Death saw them finally starting to live up to the hype the press had saddled them with since day one, taking on more of a gloomy post-punk gothic sound reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen to good effect. It showed plenty of promise but the question was always lurking in the back of your mind - was it progress or just a blip?

Well, the group's third album Skinty Fia is now here and we have an answer. Namely that it feels like the group have clearly aimed for the middle ground between that slightly underwhelming debut and the promise of its follow-up with the result being a decent in places but overall rather patchy album. The Joy Division/Bunnymen influence of the first album is definitely still there but the vocals appear to have returned the rather blaring style of the first album which takes away a lot of the subtlety that made the second album look like the much needed step forward that it was. Weirdly in places like Roman Holiday and Big Shot it sounds a bit like some of the almost-were shoegazing bands like Moose or Revolver which I'm not quite sure is the sound that this band were aiming for somehow.

It's still a reasonable effort - the likes of the Idles-esque Jackie Down The Line and the lumbering menace of Bloomsday are well worth a listen and the oddly affecting stripped back accordion led lament of The Couple Across The Way shows a bit of variety but for every standout, there's something like the dull How Cold Love Is or the New Order on mogadon title track making Skinty Fia a frustratingly inconsistent beast. A shame because, similar to Idles' disappointing Crawler album last year, it feels like the progress that Fontaines DC were building up nicely last time out has been stalled a bit. Overall right now, it feels like this band are three miles high and hovering.

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NITE SONGS RATING: 🌗🌗🌗🌗🌗🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑 (6/10)

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