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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWith 3 top 10 albums under their belts, tours with the likes of the Foo Fighters, festival headline slots, and a formidable live reputation, you could call Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes a success story, but there was a point after their last album \u2018Sticky\u2019 in 2001, when Frank Carter and guitarist Dean Richardson questioned whether they had another Rattlesnakes album in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet thankfully, following a period of sobriety on Frank\u2019s part and a great deal of soul searching, the duo return with the 5th<\/sup> Rattlesnakes long player entitled \u2018Dark Rainbow\u2019. While \u2018Sticky\u2019 was a love letter to punk rock and a reaction to the ongoing pandemic, \u2018Dark Rainbow\u2019 is a dark and brooding beast full of electronica and atmospheric soundscapes that looks back on the last few years of tumultuous times with themes of reflection and introspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If, after exposure to the first two singles, you were left confused and wondering what the hell happened to the punk rock energy of The Rattlesnakes, my advice is to bear with it and expect the unexpected with \u2018Dark Rainbow\u2019. Frank went into this album with a newfound sobriety, an introspective headspace, and a desire to take The Rattlesnakes into unchartered territories. The duo dug deep, took stock of all that they had done, and even reworked old song ideas that didn’t fit at the time. The resulting album is a mature rock record that takes time to connect, but give it that time and the rewards are plentiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Album opener \u2018Honey\u2019 bursts with QOTSA desert rock spikey riffage and cocksure lyricism. It’s a statement of intent and a winner of an album opener, it seems like it’s business as usual for Carter and Richardson. But the second track and first single release \u2018Man Of The Hour\u2019 is where it starts to get interesting. A more laid-back affair brimming with electronica and introspection, it’s a welcome departure for the band, and about as far removed from the likes of \u2018Go Get A Tattoo\u2019 that you could ask for. It sees the frontman question the whole rock star persona that he found himself thrust into and his ongoing disillusionment with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pulsing electronica of the second single \u2018Brambles\u2019 is a showcase for the seductive and sultry soundscapes of \u2018Dark Rainbow\u2019. A spikey take on the trials and tribulations of getting lost in love, it sort of hits a sound that puts me in mind of the first two Garbage albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n