Artist: Filter
Title: The Trouble With Angels
Type: Album
Label: Nuclear Blast

Since Richard Patrick cleaned up his act following a lengthy spell in rehab, he has already attempted to resurrect Filter once with the frankly terrible ‘Anthems for the Damned’ back in 2008. The trouble with it was that it bore very little resemblance to the Filter that fans had become accustomed to, that of the buzzsaw guitars, strained shouting and angry, pissed off intentions. ‘Anthems’ was a more quiet, reflective, ‘woe is me’ come political protest piece, and overall it was a bit of a non-starter. Almost immediately after the release however, Patrick started work on the next album, one he promised would be harsher, angrier and more industrial. A return to what Filter does best then? So does ‘The Trouble With Angels’ represent a ‘nice shot’, or is it wide of the mark?

I was quite a fan of Filter in their heyday, although I could also understand those who argued that they were a very average band who made their name off of one good single. Certainly there was argument that there was only one style of song they did very well, an argument that is solidly supported by the terrible ‘Anthems’, but then if there’s something you do well, why not keep doing it? It seems that Richard Patrick has finally come to that realisation with this album, and the opening track and lead single ‘The Inevitable Relapse’ has all the hallmarks of classic early Filter. Initially, I was very concerned as the quiet autotune laden intro assaulted my ears, but shortly thereafter Patrick unleashes the vein popping screams and crunching guitars that they are known for. The simple chorus of “Drink it drink it, snort it smoke it”, even seems more of a throwback to his earlier mind-set. Maybe there’s validity in the argument that artists screwed off their head on whatever substances they can get their hands on are more creative. After all, look at the drivel that Trent Reznor has churned out since he cleaned himself up… Back to the album though, and there’s no doubt that the energy is back here, and that is maintained on tracks such as ‘Drug Boy’ and the angry angsty hard rock of ‘Absentee Father’.

Patrick manages to fuse the traditional Filter sound with the more harsh, clipped and efficient aggression of Rammstein on ‘No Love’, with a guitar riff that the Teutonic pyromaniacs would have been quite proud of themselves. This is definitely one of the more radio friendly tracks on here, but there’s no denying it’s catchy, and definitely a contender for a second single. Of course there are low points too, and the saccharine ballad ‘Fades like a Photograph’ slows things down to a crawl, with a big throwback to ‘Take a Picture’ from 2nd album ‘Title of Record’. Also the autotune is below the surface here, but still quite noticeable, and it’s just not needed, after all, if there’s one thing that The X Factor has taught us recently, it’s that overexposure to autotune causes Malaria. Normal service is resumed though through ‘Down with me’ and the surprisingly catchy ‘Catch a Falling Knife’, despite the thin and weedy verse structure. The title track is a bit of a disappointment, purely for it being so unremarkable, and ‘Clouds’ is little better, save for a decent riff. Closing ballad is a bit of a strange one, in that everything about it I should hate, but somehow it works. It’s delivered with some emotion, (other than anger), and Patricks voice seems to float somewhere between his own, Bono’s and Cinderella’s Tom Keifer’s. I’ll be quite honest though, if you’ve come to MTUK to read this, the chances are that this song is definitely not going to appeal to you.

Another of Filter’s problems has been a lack of consistent quality throughout their albums. ‘Short Bus’ was described by another reviewer as, “an album of diminishing returns, each track being of approximately half the quality of the last”, and that was a valid point. The same was of later albums also, but I do think that ‘The Trouble With Angels’, whilst by no means a masterpiece, is certainly the most complete album that Filter have come up with to date. This is Filter’s original recipe industrial light, and whilst there is no ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot’, or ‘Welcome to the Fold’ here, there’s plenty for fans of their first few albums to get excited about.

http://www.myspace.com/filter