Bastille - Bad Blood
Artist: Bastille
Album: Bad Blood
Label:
Rating: 5/5
Bastille have very high expectations to meet with their debut album after their quartet of singles has gotten hype for the London quartet's debut collection to the point where it even makes lead man Dan Smith's hair look small.
Bad Blood finally hits the shelves next week and this result the years of work and preparation is worth so much more than its weight in gold.
From the sensational Pompeii to the intimate ending of Get Home, this is synth-pop perfection, delivering rousing and addictive hooks, intimate moments of introspection and a killer sense of timing.
Smith's vocal is the crux of it all, giving the instrumentation foundations solid enough to withstand a hurricane without even breaking a sweat. It would have been oh-so-easy for Smith to drench his vocals in autotune and full back into the electronic corner. Thankfully, Bastille have gone down another path.
The purity and incredible range of Smith's vocals are what makes them stand out all the more, constantly outstanding and providing an excellent opposite to the imaculately prepared melodies, be them delivering the anthemic choruses of Pompeii and Icarus or the sweet delights of Overjoyed or Daniel In The Den.
That's not to say that this is an album overpowered by its leading man's stellar vocal, as the musical flourishes shown off always hit the spot, be them the exceptional use of chanting choirs or the sneaking in of a stylophone.
From the incredible drums on Icarus to the cellos on Oblivion, Bad Blood is an album that knows how to perfectly build a crescendo, routinely taking its tracks beyond the confines of pop and into the realms of something far bigger.
Bad Blood is an utterly mesmerising album that sends chills up the spine more times than most artists could never hope to achieve throughout their careers. Effortlessly catchy without being throwaway, this confirms that this might not only be Bastille's day, it might be their year as well.
Bastille - Bad Blood is out on March 4th.
Tagged in Bastille