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Mar 10, 2025 Web Exclusive By Andy Von Pip

The Murder Capital approach the notorious “difficult third album” with conviction, pushing ahead—though not necessarily into unexplored terrain. If 2023’s Gigi’s Recovery occasionally felt somewhat “overwritten” (rather than overwrought) at the expense of the band’s raw vitality, Blindness aims to strike a more natural equilibrium between urgency and ambition. It’s a tighter, more immediate record, though it doesn’t always deliver the revelatory moments it strives for.

Forged in a period of creative tension and geographical separation, Blindness finds the band adopting a more instinctive creative process. Producer John Congleton encouraged them to embrace ideas in their purest form, often incorporating elements lifted straight from phone recordings. That spontaneity works to their advantage on tracks like opener “Moonshoot,” a late addition that crackles with exhausted late-night inspiration, and “Can’t Pretend to Know,” a taut blast of post-punk intensity.

James McGovern’s lyricism remains gripping, dissecting disillusionment, identity, and grief with precision and clarity. “Love of Country” unravels nationalism’s suffocating embrace, as McGovern reflects: “Could you blame me for mistaking your love of country for hate of man?” “Death of a Giant” offers a somber meditation on the firsthand experience of attending Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan’s funeral. When the band hit their stride, they do so with force—“Words Lost Meaning” seethes with ominous energy, while “The Fall” fuses discordant guitars with McGovern’s poetic, brooding menace. “That Feeling” is the album’s adrenaline spike and contains his most impassioned vocal on the record, a song one imagines will sound glorious live.

Yet, for all its strengths, Blindness doesn’t quite shake the sense that it’s a consolidation rather than a giant leap forward. The album sidesteps Gigi’s Recovery‘s more mannered approach but doesn’t always replace it with something more vital. Some of its slower moments sap momentum rather than deepen the record’s emotional heft. But even when Blindness doesn’t fully deliver on its most striking ideas, The Murder Capital remain a band worth watching—restless, searching, and always ready to keep their “hand in the flame.” (www.themurdercapital.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10