It has been a while since Lizzy Borden’s last studio outing – 11 years in fact (since the wonderful Appointment With Death), and during that time the band has continued to tour and been through a few line-up changes, losing two guitarists for very different reasons – one to Real Estate and one to Black Label Society. One constant though aside from Lizzy himself has been drummer Joey Scott who has been there from the very beginning and who drums again on My Midnight Things, whilst Lizzy covers all other duties.
This has been a record a long time in coming as Lizzy told us earlier in the year and whether that diversity has come over that period of time or if it was a natural progression seems rather a moot point when you take a listen. What first drew me to Lizzy Borden back in the day was that first EP ‘Give ‘Em the Axe’ and the wonderful ‘Love You to Pieces’ that followed and had a sound that made the band for me at least the US version of Iron Maiden.
That, though, was a long time ago and the sound has changed a lot since those days and this indeed might just be Lizzy’s most complex and diverse album to date, taking in and spitting out as it does echoes of a number of genres and styles. Borden sees it even more of a defining release: “Although we have stayed busy touring all over the world, I missed being a recording artist. I look at the new album as a new beginning, I pushed the restart button on my career.”
What we do end up with is indeed something new, and yet still something familiar to Borden fans. There’s the wail and stomp of the title track, and the dark feel and taste of tracks like ‘A Stranger To Love’ and the relentless ‘Our Love Is God.’ Then there are moments of delicacy – like the experimentation and stripping down and remolding of that same title track revisited. Then there’s the rockers – the racing, upbeat first video ‘Long May They Haunt Us’ and maybe even the best track here the glorious closer ‘We Belong In The Shadows.’ In between these’s not a hint of filler as tracks like ‘Run Away With Me; remind you that 11 years away has been far too long.
Welcome back, it’s been worth the wait!
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