10 Near Perfect Post Punk Albums
1. A Hero's Death - Fontaines D.C. (2020)
When Irish group Fontaines D.C. released their debut in 2019 critics hailed them as the new exciting face of the post punk revival. It was an album that hinted at the raw confidence of youth but with an awareness and respect for what came before.
Their follow up album didn't disappoint either. Track one opens up with a groggy dream like ambience; not the kind of pleasant sleep you enjoy on the Sunday afternoon, rather it feels like the 3 am restlessness when somethings playing on your mind. It sets the tone for the record. You certainly feel the influence of Joy Division. There's a brooding aspect, both to the vocals and the guitars. Riffs are incessantly repeated during the end of Love Is The Main thing, to the point of tedium. We then hit the bleak Televised Mind, a commentary about the zombie nation, where technology keeps us stupefied.
On Such A Spring, pulls back from the overtly dreary undertones. What we get is a softly plucked and tenderly strummed guitar ballad. It's more reminiscent of the type of '90s ballads you'd hear from groups like Metallica. This is when the dream becomes ethereal, there's a beauty to the nostalgic memories being referenced. This is an album rooted in the present, obsessed with the bleak future, while leaning on the sounds of the past.