The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent

Godfather Of Indie delivers best album in over 20 years

“I’m a 50-year-old man!” barks the dishevelled and baleful Mark E Smith on the track with the same name, before roaring, “What are you going to do about it?”

Sit back and enjoy the spectacle would be the answer to that particular rhetorical question. It’s 30 years since the Prestwich poet slouched out of Salford with the single Repetition, which told us what he was going to do for the rest of his life. The repetition of riffs, hooks, lyrical concerns (fear of dogs, being attacked by chickens, people colluding with Virgin Trains against him, small town mentality) rockabilly, techno, industrial, clanging indie and all forms of music that suggest an amphetamine-powered, unstoppable force are all here. Grant E Showbiz is behind the desk and, as with other recent production slots (The Unutterable, The Real New Fall LP), he keeps Smith, who sounds sober and ferocious, on a tight leash.

It’s true Smith has raided his own back catalogue, regurgitating and refreshing old riffs and ideas. However, from the queasy Beefheartian lurch of Alton Towers to the football terrace roar of I’ve Been Duped, this album is genuinely the best thing they have done since the critical and commercial success of their Beggars Banquet years.

5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars

Sanctuary | 1765729

Reviewed by John Doran
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