Bob Mould – ‘Beauty & Ruin’ (Review)

Recently my eagerly awaited copy of the new Bob Mould album arrived in the post.

If you don’t know who Bob Mould is, don’t worry, HE’S ONLY THE GUY WHO INVENTED ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC!

With the sarcasm out of the way, I shall introduce Mr. Mould more formally as the former guitarist, singer and songwriter of both Husker Du and Sugar. Bob went through a phase several years ago of dabbling in dubious electronica. If, like myself, you were a bit unimpressed with this particular phase of his music career, fear not. ‘Beauty & Ruin’ has lots of loud guitars and absolutely no programmed beats. It’s safe to say Bob Mould is back to doing what he does best.

As we’d expect from a Bob record, there’s an abundance of great hooks, notably on ‘I Don’t Know You Anymore’ which I’ve had stuck in my head for several days now.

‘Low Season’ is perhaps an odd choice for an opening track given as it’s something of a slowie, but it’s emotional and has plenty of guitar weight. It’s also refreshing to hear a rock album that doesn’t launch straight into the high octane material from the word go.

‘Kid With Crooked Face’ is more that a bit hardcore-esque and wouldn’t sound out of place on an indie-label era Husker Du album.

By no means is this album all about the distorted guitars though. ‘Let The Beauty Be’ is a good example of this record’s more acoustic side. It’s also unmistakeably optimistic in both its melody and lyrics. We also get a hint of keyboard playing and cleaner electric guitar tone on ‘Forgiveness’. ‘Nemeses Are Laughing’ opens with a deceptive a cappella intro before launching into trademark full band loudness.

My absolute favourite track off this album (and as of writing, off of any album) has to be ‘The War’. Loud, fast and impassioned with great lyrics and great guitar playing from Bob. In fact, both lyrics and guitar playing are on top form right through ‘Beauty & Ruin’, with the former being as poetic and deep as we’d expect and the latter delivering a memorable mix of melody and power. Vocals do have to compete with the noise more than a bit. Some may complain, but it gives the record something of a live feel, which is no bad thing and something that has been notably absent from alternative rock records since around the turn of the millenium.

There’s something quite exciting about hearing a new record from a stalwart musician of the ’80s and ’90s that is this good. It gives me quite a rush of optimism. Needless to say, I love this album and have been listening to it relentlessly.