★★★★★
Five Stars
“I’m 65, how old are you?” The final words to the introductory voice over of opening track ‘Shut Up’ are entirely appropriate considering Savages mission statement released earlier this year. Having been criticised for being a copy-cat band, they retaliated with, “Savages are not trying to give you something you didn’t have already.” Their most recent press release goes further, claiming that “Savages’ intention was to create a sound, indestructible and musically solid, written with enough nuances to provide a wide range of emotions” and on their debut album, Silence Yourself, this mission statement has been successfully implemented.
Whilst the band are ‘nothing new’; they don’t claim to be, and what they do offer is simply a fantastic album. Savages offer a lot more musical depth than they may first suggest with tracks such as ‘City’s Full’ and ‘Strife’ having an air of the Led Zeppelin to them with Jehnny Beth’s yelps and cries, dramatic guitar sweeps, and an air of loose-pounding rock within the opening drum-break of ‘Strife’ that Bonzo would be proud of.
Lyrically, the four-piece have some interesting moments especially in the aforementioned ‘City’s Full’ with ‘your serious eyes dehumanise’ bringing a sense of depth to the track which is juxtaposed with the chorus telling of how the ‘city’s full of cissy love, yeah’.
Musically, however, is where the main interest of this album remains; with the various stylistic tributes to punk and rock bands of the past coinciding with more experimental tracks, such as ‘Waiting for a Sign’ and ‘Dead Nature’. What stands out in this album is it’s musical depth: both in terms of the audible mix, with the foregrounding of Hassan’s masterful bass; and in their intricate musical refernces. All-in-all, this is a much more satisfying and interesting listen than other ‘guitar bands’ out there like the Vaccines and even the Strokes — who we’re all rather bored of.
Track to download: Strife
