Battle For the Sun

Performer: Placebo (Pop)
Engineer: Kevin Dietz; James Brown
Producer: David Bottrill
Distributor: Fontana Distribution

Notes: Audio Mixer: Alan Moulder. Placebo made a name for themselves playing tough alt-rock with a glammy, sexually provocative swagger. For the their first album since 2006's MEDS, the group pulled from the many facets of their sound through the years and created what is perhaps the consummate Placebo release. Tracks alternate between smart, angsty guitar-driven rock ("Kitty Litter," the title track) and anthemic, hook-heavy Britpop ("Ashtray Heart," "Bright Lights"), with touches of dark electronica and lush synth textures thrown in. While the band continues to explore themes of hard living, there's also considerable self-examination taking place here, with alternatives to the rock & roll lifestyle explicitly laid out on the table. BATTLE FOR THE SUN finds Placebo continuing to evolve as a band in more ways than one.

Alternative Press (p.130) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "BATTLE FOR THE SUN takes the best elements of their sound and focuses it into a cohesive listening experience -- there's no filler to be found." Q (Magazine) (p.129) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[W]ith vibrant, lusty tones as epitomised by the title track, whose swirling synths and strings build to a euphoric climax."

The three founding members of Placebo hailed from Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland, but their sound was British through and through, a mix of angst-ridden Cure-esque post-punk and glammy art rock a la Bowie. Amid the success of their early albums in the 1990s, they made no secret of their roots, crossing paths with Bowie more than once, covering T. Rex, and appearing in the glam-rock homage VELVET GOLDMINE. However, as album followed album in the '00s, like Bowie, the band expanded beyond its original universe, developing its own brand of darkly majestic, thoroughly neurotic pop.

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