Pardon yet another horse meat pun, but I have devoured the latest offering of Foals.
The Oxford quintet’s debut album Antidotes went to No. 3 in the UK, while their second, Total Life Forever, received a nomination for that ‘prestigious’ Mercury award. However, their music has always had more than a stench of mediocrity; I’ve never seen them live and have never wanted to. Until now.
Holy Fire is the third album from Foals and it’s unquestionably their best yet. After the scintillating “Prelude,” we are re-introduced to the two singles “Inhaler” and “My Number.” The latter should be accompanied by a health warning as its chorus is scandalously catchy but gets rather irritating once the play count starts to near double figures.
Thankfully, the proceeding tracks are, put simply, genius. The sound is expansive, the lyrics dark. “Everytime” is one of a plethora of numbers that could, one day, send stadia into raptures. Forget whatever you’ve heard to date, Foals are now officially a rock band.
This is the first album of the year that is, beyond any doubt, going to be featured on all the inevitable ‘Best of 2013’ lists come December. Third time’s the charm, they say. It’s certainly the case for this English five-piece.
Rating: 4.5/5
Eoin Sheahan
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