Review: The March Violets - 'Made Glorious'

THE MARCH VIOLETS 

'Made Glorious' 

SELF-RELEASED 

The product of a successful crowd-sourcing campaign and a tantalising thirty years in the making comes The March Violets first proper album in the form of 'Made Glorious'. 2011's 'Love Will Kill You' EP provided the first glimpse of a focussed and reinvigorated Violets that a foot firmly in their classic post-punk meets goth sound with a distinctly progressive twenty-first century sheen. But will 'Made Glorious' provide the fans with the closure they have craved for so long?

The album distils the essence of the band's early singles like 'Snake Dance' and 'Walk Into The Sun' into a refined, dreamy, almost psychedelic style to songs like 'A Room With No View', 'Of Roses', 'Dandelion King' and '2024' that feels fresh and shows off the full extent of the band's song writing talent. The strong bass lines and driving drum machine give the album a solid groove throughout songs such as 'Made Glorious', 'We Are All Gods III', 'Little Punk Thing', and 'My Demons' which show they still have plenty of dance floor appeal. But the band aren't afraid to get a little playful as songs like 'Tokyo Flow', 'Discoboy Must Die' and 'Ramming Speed' inject both some humour and pure punk attitude into the record.

As with the EP before it, the band are at their strongest when they delve into the more sublime end of their song writing. But there is still something undeniably compelling about their tried and tested sound, even after all these years.

The time taken over the production side of the album is evident from the opening bars. It has a recognisably analogue vibe to it, but loses the 80's roughness of their earlier recordings in favour of a more dynamic and richer sound. The bass and drums tend to dominate the mix with the dual vocals, guitars and a variety of other instrumentals often fading in and out of songs giving them a more ethereal atmosphere.

It's been along time coming, but The March Violets have delivered on that album they always promised to make. The high quality of the song writing, performance and production is the product of a long journey, but it was well worth the wait.

Posted in: Made Glorious,music,The March Violets