Therapy? - One Cure Fits All Review
Posted by Evocator Manes on 10.05.2006
The greatest musical unsung hero act of all-time.
Therapy? One Cure Fits All
2006
Spitfire
8.5
This band has been punched in the teeth by two different record labels, in effect, having their careers halted at the borders. The first time it happened, after the phenomenal Infernal Love disc, the Semi-Detached album was not released at all in America and the huge tide that the band had been riding with Troublegum drifted back into the sea, completely derailing the band's momentum.
After signing with a smaller label, they released Shameless, a great album which again kicked open the door to a new audience. In what must be viewed as a serious misstep, they then signed with Eagle Rock/Spitfire, who managed to completely fuck up promotion on their ostensible "comeback" album, High Anxiety. Despite losing band members, the band soldiered on to release the fantastic Never Apologise, Never Explain, which once again never managed to penetrate American shores with a release here. Their 11th album, released again in the UK and elsewhere and not at all still in the United States, shows a mature band that still sounds like no one else but themselves, still taking chances, still somehow maintaining a traditional "Therapy?" sound, yet still not writing the same album twice.
Therapy? may have started their catapultic rise during the dreaded grunge years, but they outlived it by adding metal elements and some healthy doses of punk, then melody and hooks to the proceedings. Throw in a few industrial dashes, as well as some inspired structures and arrangements and the end result is that musically, they are never boring, but with Andrew Cairns' impassioned vocals punching forth some of the most brilliant lyrics set down in rock, the strength of their music is driven ever higher and more forcefully home.
While One Cure is not quite up to the level of their finest hours, where one could throw a dart at the song titles and find a good one anywhere it hit, this album has some fine moments, such as in the song Dopamine, Seratonin, Adrenaline, which features maybe the greatest lyric bridge ever when Cairns sings, "so scared of dying, I've forgotten how to live" over and over. The maturity of Cairn's songwriting is also amply demonstrated in Unconsoled, as poignant a tale of regret, remembrance and longing as ever was written.
The artwork features a badly manipulated doll face, which rather eerily resembles perhaps the face of someone upon whom Botox cosmetology surgery has gone horribly wrong, wherein smiles become white-teethed grimaces. Full lyrics and credits are reprinted inside, along with head shots of the band and a group shot towards the end.
The 411: Perhaps not their best work to date -- and there are at least four albums that qualify for that honor, with all of them completely different sounding albums to the others -- but it takes its place in the solid middle, as an album with some definite merit and steadily strong through and through. For fans of the band, this definitely has a place in your collection. For those starting out, this is not a bad place.
