Eels - End Times

Long overdue introspection proves unsatisfying

Mark Everett has had a lifetime’s worth of heartbreak in his 46 years on earth, but family tragedy has never burdened Eels records; there was always enough irony, wit and musical innovation to carry his previous seven albums off with aplomb.

End Times, named after a cry from an oft-ignored street preacher, shifts that focus worryingly. Whereas 2009’s Hombre Lobo interspersed its moments of whimsy with rowdy and excellent shock-rock, here there is no such relief. You’re left with 14 meandering, indistinguishable ballads that – if you’re lucky – occasionally offer a great lyric. A Line In The Dirt finds the narrator pissing in the garden after his girl locks herself in the bathroom, while the brief Apple Trees finds him picking a tree in a forest as a representation of himself in an infinite populace.

Sadly, for every inspired image there’s a ton of Record Collector 87 blandness. I Need A Mother may be painfully autobiographical, but it’s painful too, and Paradise Blues’ suicide bomber storyline misses its target. The music feels half-formed throughout and, after repeated listens, you’re left craving the sweet soul of Hombre Lobo, or E himself, because it isn’t evident here.

Vagrant | VVR 728642

Reviewed by Jake Kennedy
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