Failure – ‘The Heart Is A Monster’

There are many features or reviews out there (including ones by this reviewer) that will make mention of the fact that Failure never got the break they deserved on their initial run. They will go on to say that they were under appreciated, and should really have carried the alternative rock torch into the new millennium. Of course all of this is true, and they should have been a much bigger band, but that is the past now, and in 2015 Failure are a band again, and making music, which is more important than dwelling on what could have been 19 years ago.

Now, you have to remember that while never setting the world on fire, their previous album ‘Fantastic Planet’ was in fact a work of art. It was a very precise and calculated rock album, which showed the progression from the raw power of their debut ‘Comfort’, and expanded on the driving anthems of ‘Magnified’. It has become timeless amongst those who actually understood what Failure where about, and means that their new album ‘The Heart Is A Monster’ has enormous shoes to fill. When any band makes a “reunion record”, it is either met with a rapturous applause, or – in some cases – vile torment (see the internet reaction to the new Refused record for an extreme example of both).

The best thing about Failure though, is they make no grandiose statements about it being an album to change the world, or even when they broke up in 1997, there was no controversy, it was just one of those things that happened. It gives ‘The Heart Is A Monster’ it a little more slack, and because it is an album that was made purely because its creators wanted too, means that it can be judged purely on it’s composition alone. Recorded and produced each song at a time by the trio of Ken Andrews, Greg Edwards, and Kelli Scott themselves, and crowd funded with a successful pledgemusic campaign, the end result that is ‘The Heart Is A Monster’ is quite frankly, monumental.

‘Segue 4’ literally picks up where ‘Fantastic Planet’ left off all those years ago, before launching into the first song proper ‘Hot Traveler’, which instantly shows the band have lost none of their flair for big guitar riffs, and soaring vocal lines. While Failure always kept their tongues firmly in their cheeks when it came to the “space rock” tag, ‘A.M Amnesia’ clearly has an interplanetary vibe to it, with Kelli Scott’s analytical drumming sounding more refined than ever before, and they utilise that classic quiet/loud approach through ‘Atom City Queen’.

A signature Greg Edwards looming bass line signals the start of ‘Petting The Carpet’, as it twists and turns from sullen verses to a gargantuan chorus, with Ken Andrews vocal showing no signs of flagging over the years. If anything he manages to hit notes that he hasn’t on previous Failure records, particularly as he softly croons over the piano-led ballad ‘Mulholland Drive’, before kicking it up once again through stomping rhythms on ‘Fair Light Era’. Much like the LA band did on ‘Fantastic Planet’, they separate sections of album up with numbered interludes to help segue the album together, presenting it as a cohesive body of work, helping the listener to fully immerse themselves in what they are listening too.

‘The Heart Is A Monster’ is also a lengthy journey, that requires a lot of attention across the 18 tracks and near 70-minute run time, but the efforts that Failure have put in to make the album the best it could be, are deserving of such attention. You have to think as well, this is a band that haven’t written together in nearly 20-years, so the excitement of this rejuvenated band, clearly led to a creative outburst that had laid dormant. Even at this length, and with that much content, the album remains captivating through the low-end, post-grunge that makes up ‘The Focus’, and when you reach ‘I Can See Houses’ – which dates back to 1991 believe it or not – that builds into a sweeping crescendo on more than one occasion, you are still left mesmerised as it reaches a dramatic closure.

While it is sometimes customary to make comparisons to other artists while reviewing an album, by way of drawing a reader in and helping them attach a genre or style to a record they may not have heard, its not something you can really do with Failure. The truth is, that ‘The Heart Is A Monster’ sounds like nothing else other than a Failure record. The band have their own unique sound, that while often imitated, it has never been bettered. We will never know if ‘The Heart Is A Monster’ would have been how Failure would follow up ‘Fantastic Planet’ had they written it straight after, but it has most certainly been worth the 20-year wait, as they have added another superb record to an unsullied legacy as one of the most important modern rock bands you never knew existed.

GLEN BUSHELL