Accessible and Original and Always Entertaining
Hailing from Oxford, England, Foals are indie rock quintet which started with math rock leanings. Their first album, Antidotes, was a jumping, staccato masterpiece which introduced the little known genre to a large audience in both Europe and America. Since this initial release, Foals has changed and matured. Their songs are no longer the angular pieces the band used to revel in, but rather much more expansive and attain a depth their previous sound lacked. And it is quite the achievement.
The opening six songs are impressive, and boast some of Foals signature plucked, staccato riffs. Some songs are reminiscent of a younger and more rock-oriented Radiohead. Songs such as “My Number” and “Bad Habit” recall the mood of OK Computer mixed with a little bit of the more recent releases of Coldplay. The lead single, “Inhaler”, boast loud, full guitars blasts akin to those found in Rage Against the Machine songs, though the song and remainder of Holy Fire divorces themselves entirely from the body of RATM’s work. There is a lot of great material here, and no one song suffers from repetition or lack of ingenuity.
RIYL: Radiohead, U2
REC: 2,3,4,5,6,11
FCC: Clean
Label: Transgressive
Release Date: February 11th, 2013
Reviewed by Jason Ralston
