Doves- Kingdom of Rust
Filed under: Album Reviews by IanNo Comments »
April 6th 2009. I’ve been waiting for this day for four long years. Yes, it’s been that long since their last album ‘Some Cities’ was released. It’s been a long hard wait, but it’s been worth it. ‘Kingdom of Rust’ is quite simply outstanding!
Yes, you’re right. I am a fan of Doves and I have been for some time now. Often mocked but never bothered, I still wear my Doves t-shirt with pride. The colour may be fading and the lettering may be cracked and peeling but their music still soars on.
I shall try to remain professional and give and objective account of this album, ok, I’ll try to remain amateur and objective, but this piece of music makes it very hard for me to find fault in the work that’s taken these boys from Manchester four years to fine tune and tweak to perfection.
Kicking off with opener (and first single,) ‘Jetstream’ the album excels from the start. The trademark distorted vocals and soaring choruses are classic Doves, yet the style and pace set the example of a newly invigorated style.
Track two and second single, ‘Kingdom of Rust’ is archetypal Doves, very much like the sounds we’ve heard previously but compacted into a more digestible sound to the ears of mainstream music fans. Where previous albums have been epic in proportion, this is epic in sound. Seriously quality over quantity (not that I’m taking anything away it’s predecessors because it has all been outstanding, but often underrated by the public.)
‘Kingdom of Rust’ continues to impress with every song, each one surpassing the previous track. The whole album is solid with strong opening singles and standout tracks such as ‘Winter Hill’, ‘Compulsion’ (with it’s awesome slap bass,) ‘Hall of Mirrors’ and ‘Lifelines.’ If ‘Hall of Mirrors’ is released as their third single from the album it would surely propel them onto the playlist of the masses and, as many critics have said, make ‘Kingdom of Rust’ the ‘Seldom Seen Kid’ of 2009.
Doves’ early days of chilled dance sounds have been replaced by anthemic, indie-rock and roll, which will be heard on Match of the Day montages and TV trailers for a long time. (You may think that’s not a very good endorsement but I see it as one so shut up!)
Keep the WD40 away because this ‘Kingdom of Rust’ is awesome!
Rating: 
