589. Therapy? / A Brief Crack of Light. 2012. 3/5

It's probably not a good sign if your first reaction to hearing of a new release from one of your bands is "wow, are they doing another album!" with a slight touch of cynicism in your voice. Which is pretty much how I came into this album. Following on from their live release of 18 months ago which I had enjoyed, and their previous album Crooked Timber which had had its moments, I was still curious to see what the band could come up with in the new decade.

There doesn't seem like there are many more areas that Therapy? can strip back their sound. It's drums, it's guitars, and it's Andy Cairns' vocals and lyrics. And whereas in the recent past the waters have been muddied, it really does appear on this release that there has been a true effort to rediscover the real Therapy?, the one that came together in the early 1990's.

I couldn't tell you if it is a conscious effort on the band's past, but on a lot of the album it can be said to be successful. Everyone knows you cannot catch lightning in a bottle, so comparing albums over eras is just plain silly. But the overall sound of the album brings back memories of former days of triumph.

Songs such as "Living in the Shadow of the Terrible Thing" and "Before You, With You, After You" and "Get Your Dead Hand off My Shoulder" showcase the best that this band can offer. Others on the album seem far too over the top, as if they are trying too hard to prove a point. Still, the overall feel of the album is that there is a significant effort to get back to the basics of their craft.

For those fans that have fallen off the bandwagon over the past decade, this is worth getting back on the horse for. There is nothing new here, and almost zero experimentation. In a lot of ways, that is the best news most Therapy? fans could ask for.