Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another

This year has seen many of my favorite artists release extremely average new albums. However, it's good to see that some things stay great. Super group Future of the Left', assembled from members of the new defunct mclusky and Jarcrew, had a tough act to follow with their 2007 debut 'Curses', a brilliant which was comfortably among my favorite albums of the year. However, they've pulled a sequel off, and how.

Andy Falkous is a great man. And when I say great, I mean there should be 30ft statues erected in his honor in culturally significant locations around the globe. Lyrically, he manages to highlight the ridiculousness and evil in life in the most fantastically dark and aggressive fashion, delivering lines with a ferocious bark which has been known to decimate hecklers across the land.

His scuzzy guitar lines are backed by almost unfairly catchy basslines, which all together produces the most incredibly powerful music for a group of only three members.

'Travels with myself and another' is packed with great songs, which only improve on repeated listens. Opener 'Arming Eritrea' is a statement of intent, 3 minutes of thumping aggression which demands your attention, and may be the best thing the band have written.

Chin music continues in a similar vein, assaulting your ear drums, with screamed lines like "I ONLY HIT HIM 'CAUSE HE MADE ME CRAZY, I ONLY HIT HIM 'CAUSE HE MADE ME MAD!" reminding you that no one quite does angry like FotL. Current single 'The hope that house built' offers a breather after the opening barrage, but is still no less than awesome. As the album goes on, we hear more of Falco's divisive use of the Korg. It feels more natural on this album, perhaps because it's more expected, but standout tracks 'You need Satan more than he needs You' and 'Throwing Bricks at Trains' wouldn't work without it.

So, are there any negatives? On first listen, the album does appear to tail off halfway through, but with repeated listens you'll fall in love with everything. The only real problem here is that the album is a bit short at barely half an hour... seriously, that's it. What we have here is a band hitting it's stride, producing an album which is actually better than their debut, and providing proof that FotL have inherited mclusky's title of 'Most under appreciated band in the World'.

In one line: Buy this album, and love it, or I hate you.

9/10

Listen To:
Arming Eritrea
The Hope That House Built
You Need Satan More Than He Needs You