A shining star in a glorious career, New Model Army's sixth album released in 1993, "Love of Hopeless Causes", may very well be their defining moment as one of the greatest, and most underrated, bands of all time.
When the band started, it consisted of angry young men who refused to bow down to Margret Thatcher, or waste their life on the dole. Marching Music is what it was. It was raw, filled with fury and built upon powerful lyrics. Over the years they started to grow, develop their range as...
A shining star in a glorious career, New Model Army's sixth album released in 1993, "Love of Hopeless Causes", may very well be their defining moment as one of the greatest, and most underrated, bands of all time.
When the band started, it consisted of angry young men who refused to bow down to Margret Thatcher, or waste their life on the dole. Marching Music is what it was. It was raw, filled with fury and built upon powerful lyrics. Over the years they started to grow, develop their range as musicians. "Vagabonds" sent shivers throughout the music world because no one had heard such creativity from a punk band since the Clash. When they released "Impurity" in 1990, it sent shockwaves through critics and fans because everyone had realized that they had become more than just some punk act, they had become an influential and groundbreaking force in music.
"Impurity" rocked to be sure, but their was something very odd about it's sound and words. In the early days, Justin Sullivan(the band's lead singer, lyricist, & creative force) and his mates were shouting "I BELIEVE IN VENGEANCE! I BELIEVE IN GETTING THE BASTARD"! That's not so on "Impurity." Justin appeared tired of fighting. While their were a few traces of these feelings on that album, they come full circle on L.O.H.C.
It's an album loaded with fear and doubt, hate and war, mysticism and spirituality. He knows the war is not over, in fact, it's just beginning. But he has been fighting for more than a decade, he wants to be free. The album is shown through Justin's eyes. We see wars, lost love, riots, the destruction of our world, and most of all, hope. He's searching for something and, by the album's end, we begin to understand what he wants.
Every album of theirs is unique. Whether it's the production, lyrics, or arrangements, each piece has something to admire. L.O.H.C. is filled with them. The song arrangements here are incredible. To open an album with "Here Comes The War", a song that vividly illustrates mankind's violent and volatile nature, and close it with "Bad Old World", a stunning piece which has a friend writing a letter to Justin. He tells him he's free, living in a beautiful place and although he still believes in Justin's fight, he will never go back to that "Bad Old World."
In between these two songs lies some of most heartbreaking and magnificent songs of NMA's career. "Fate" will hook you in immediately by it's cool rhythms. "Living In The Rose" and the knockout acoustic piece "These Words" are emotionally piercing to say the least. "White Light" is breathtaking and "Believe It" is brutally honest about the current state of the world. The song works just as well today as it did 10 years ago. "My People", one of my personal favorite's from this group, is a classic example of the intense marching music this band can create. This song alone will send you into a frenzy.
The point of this album is simple. We have turned this world into a dangerous place, we have poisoned it with our fears and our greed. And yet, while this may be true, their is still such wonderous beauty that lives all around us. That's exactly what this record is. A thing of beauty from amidst the shadows. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
