Tuesday 25 May 2010

Klaxons - Flashover

A flashover is what happens when the radiant heat from a single fire source in an enclosed space ignites all other gases from other heated combustible sources in that enclosure. That’s the scientific explanation.

Putting it another way, a flashover is when the fire goes boom !

The non-scientific, but very musical explanation is that it is also the first fiery new material from the Klaxons since Myths of the Near Future. It also goes boom.

Yes, the Klaxons. Remember them ? New rave was all the rage. Klaxons were an electric, but amateur blast of MDMA-amazing full-force energy that somehow went on to deliver a mind-blowing Mercury winning album. The bad joke turned good.

After possibly the longest wait for a follow up album since Guns and Roses, Klaxons return with a new album ready to go, tentatively called Surfing The Void. Apparently the cover has a 'cats in space' theme. Honestly. Flashover sees the Klaxons get viscerally noisy with a heavy, violent, muscular, angry, squealing brute of a song, but it’s still recognisably the Klaxons - their manic spirit remains intact and underneath the riot of sound there’s still a vocal melody in the chorus. Listen for when the beast leaves and a singular piano sound and almost camp choir boy vocals take over, before the track tries to punch its way through a wall with riotous determination - showing that the band are still prepared to experiment and go off at angles.

Whatever you think of Flashover, you can’t accuse the Klaxons of selling out and being overtly commercial. We await further material with interest.

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