On the eve of their 40th anniversary its great that a band like New Model Army is still making great music. Back in the day New Model Army was a band very much on my radar with their politically charged lyrics and huge energy that for me at least was at it’s glorious peak with 1986’s ‘The Ghost of Cain’ but this is a band who have stuck at it producing a regular stream of music spanning four decades.
Here the downbeat ‘Nothing To Lose’ opens like the calm before the storm, and it’s followed by the languid chug of the ballad ‘Never Arriving’ which paints a rich picture before retreating into silence.
The press release for ‘From Here’ came with the statement “It is often said that the album is dead. We don’t believe this is true”, and they’re not far wrong – this collection reads like a book with each new song a new chapter. And whilst the lineup has changed over the years and musical styles have evolved the heart of the band – Justin Sullivan has remained. He may well be one of the last men out there to still believe in the power of music to change the world both personally and politically.
In an album that fails to even hint at letting the listener down the music and especially the lyrics aren’t your standard Rock band fare, there’s tales of change and a real feel of global issues seen through a set of observant eyes that aren’t afraid to weigh in on difficult subjects, or revel in the little details. It’s all a part of the whole after all.
On an album like this that really should be heard and digested as a whole it’s hard to pull out particular tracks for scrutiny but if we have to point you in a particular direction try the railing against the state of the World in ‘End of Days’ or the epic eight-minute closer and title track and tell me that this isn’t one of the best from a band who have already had more than their fair share of great and memorable musical moments.