Photo Credit: Rob O’Connor
The Painful Truth has to be one of the most anticipated album releases of the year, after Skunk Anansie geared up fans during their very successful tour in April (check out our review and photo gallery HERE). Now their seventh album is finally here, marking their first since 2016’s Anarchytecture. While looking at the Skunk Anansie back-catalogue it’s hard to believe their debut EP Selling Jesus was released thirty years ago, but we can confirm that they are as relevant now as they were back then.
Produced by David Sitek of TV On The Radio, the punk rage that rips throughout opener An Artist Is An Artist tells a story in itself… Skunk Anansie are back! Vocalist Skin lets go big time during this one, stamping her authority from the very start of the album, which doesn’t let go until the final note is played thirty-eight minutes later.
This Is Not Your Life keeps the high-intensity flowing, while Shame feels like Skin is allowing us inside her mind, with some very hard-hitting lyrics especially during the chorus: “I got the love from my Mother/I got the pain from my Dad/I got the blame from my Brother/Oh, Shame, I got it bad.” Lost and Found tells another story in itself, with a nice melodic start with a basic piano key taking full effect around the vocals, yet again featuring some powerful lyrics: “Head in a daze, thought I was killin’/drinkin’ and pillin’, it lasted for days/cops are coming, yeah, they’re shaking me down”.
When we first heard one of the early singles Cheers at the O2 Academy in Glasgow it stuck in the head and, judging by the crowd reaction, it was the same for everyone else in the venue. This is one of the standouts on The Painful Truth but instead of the line “let’s celebrate our big failure,” it is quite the opposite here for what we reckon is the band’s strongest album release to date. But of course the world is a very different place now in comparison to the mid-1990s, when Skunk Anansie were releasing songs such as Weak and Hedonism Just Because You Feel Good). Shoulda Been You has a funky guitar backbeat, making it the track that is most likely to get you dancing, and works well alongside the vocals from Skin, while Animal is another of the early singles that was thoroughly enjoyable during the tour.
As we move towards the end of The Painful Truth, Fall In Love With A Girl and My Greatest Moment are well worth a listen from an album that peaked at #7 in the UK Official Album Chart, the highest position in the band’s 31-year history – and well deserved too.
10/10
Standout Tracks: An Artist Is An Artist, Shame, Cheers
For Fans Of: Manic Street Preachers, Pearl Jam, Weezer
Written by: Alan Brown
