Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes - Dark Rainbow (Album Review)
Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Written by Jack McGill
Photo: Brian Rankin
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ fifth album takes us on a sultry, dimly-lit journey into self-reflection, channelling sex, unconditional love, and spite into their most intimate and honest work to date.
From start to finish Carter’s lyrics are unfailingly candid, foregrounding his voice and experiences in a refreshing dose of realness. Unlike its predecessor, ‘Sticky’, ‘Dark Rainbow’ has no features, which provides the duo — completed by multi-instrumentalist Dean Richardson — with more space to find their own catharsis.
Honey, Brambles and Queen of Hearts focus on romance through a thorny prism, landing not so much on a partnership but a sense of ownership and what it means to be someone’s possession, entranced by a loving curse.
Alternating between stomping sleaze-rock and plaintive balladry, the songs work so well that this unhealthy, confected worldview almost infects your own.
Carter has always been known to make rowdy and frustration-releasing music, all the way back to the days of Gallows, but here he finally perfects the soft, delicate attitude that has been known to intervene from time to time.
Over a piano on Sun Bright Golden Happening, Carter serenades us with the line, “Thistles and daisies, please don't say maybe, our love is as strong as the sun.” Set against the tortured relationships of earlier songs it’s an interesting shift.
This is an album of balance — between sonics and thematic preoccupations — that pushes Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes closer to where they want to be. It’s going to challenge some listeners, who prefer rabble rousing to whispered sweet nothings, but one step at a time this band’s work is becoming harder to put down.
Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed January 31 2024 - NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade
Tue February 06 2024 - CARDIFF Great Hall - Cardiff Uni
Wed February 07 2024 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Fri February 09 2024 - MANCHESTER Manchester Academy
Sat February 10 2024 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Newcastle Northumbria Uni SU - REDS
Sun February 11 2024 - GLASGOW Barrowland Ballroom
Tue February 13 2024 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Wed February 14 2024 - WOLVERHAMPTON Wulfrun at Halls
Thu February 15 2024 - LONDON Roundhouse
Fri February 16 2024 - LONDON Roundhouse
Fri March 01 2024 - SHEFFIELD Foundry
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