Skunk Anansie : The Painful Truth
Released on 23rd May by FLG Records
It’s three days before the release of Skunk Anansie’s new album ‘The Painful Truth’ and I realise it’s already been a month and a half since I saw them in Birmingham! Time flies! There were four songs from the new album in her setlist then, so handily I’ve something of an idea as to how she’s sounding compared to when I was listening to her many moons ago. Still sharp, still energetic, but the anger has changed into something different. Less visceral, less Rage against the Machine-esque, but still absolutely recognisable.
It’s been nine years since a last studio release was brought to the table, and much has happened doubtless in the band’s world as well as our own. In a post covid era there’s more than a little air of reflection in Skin’s voice. It seems 10 tracks are the standard these days for a new album, and it’s the same to be found here. The first thing noticeable is there’s a very different feel between all three of the first three tracks from each other. “An Artist is an Artist” feels like more of a punk sound than you’d expect if you’re only familiar with their mid 90s releases, a curious choice as an opener, defiant, telling what you’d assume is how the band see their own story about how, even now, they’re still here, relevant, and existing beyond constraints that time might’ve tried to impose, and it’s leaning into a Hazel O’Conner’s “Eighth Day” sound only with more swearing, whereas “This is not your Life” has synth sounds throughout which wouldn’t sound out of place in a Pendulum concert, and then there’s track three, “Shame”, a slower homage to the family who’ve made the subject of the song quite who they are, be it positive or negative emotions. It’s powerful, but again not sung with anger, but rather almost resignation.
It’s at this point that it becomes obvious that this really is a release which is basing everything around Skin’s isolated vocal prowess. There’s a steady beat provided for rhythm, but it’s like a resting heartbeat, unobtrusive but there nevertheless. Reassuring perhaps, allowing tempo and meter to flow but without feeling like it’s dictating, which is clever because, of course, that’s exactly what it’s doing! The rest of the instrumentation feels like musical garnish, albeit tasty in its own right and while far from inconsequential it’s very much not in competition with the vocal for attention. “Cheers”, track five, could easily have had 90% of the backing programmed and played by a Roland TR-909 and why not, if it’s good enough for Andrew Eldritch? “Shoulda Been You” is also festooned with inordinate amounts of musical effects sounding suspiciously like a Doctor Who ray gun from the 70s in placees but there’s definitely more of a guitar involved here too. The vocal is clean, as to be expected, Skin’s enunciation has always been on point, even when shouting the chorus, and then they switch again, slower on the next track “Animal”, track seven, with a beat not dissimilar through the verse as Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer”, and there’s definitely a capacity for grinding to this, be it vertically or horizontally! This was one of the standout tracks live, and here on the album it excels too not least because of its contrast with the surrounding tracks.
“He was a typical fuck boy” gives you a clue that there’s still a level of terseness being levelled here in Skunk Anansie’s lyrics, but it’s delivered, rather than spewed these days, as shown in “Fell in love with a Girl”. I’m put in mind of Tom Morello’s acoustic Nightwatchman uttering “you don’t gotta be loud son to be heavy as shit” and subsequently “this machine here, well it kills fascists too” showing that it’s just as effective and impactful to be gentler in presentation as long as the content has substance. However, it’s the final track which stands alone as the one you’ll carry with you long after you’ve turned the stereo off. “Meltdown” is a beautiful, soulful soliloquy with a piano backdrop accompaniment. A lament, or an observation? That’s for you to decide, but it hits home spectacularly hard. Be warned, it’s a song to shed tears to, which if you’ve got the album on repeat will then be rudely interrupted by the album restarting! “Meltdown” might well be why they’ve titled this album ‘The Painful Truth’, and for a guy who’s pretty hard hearted this managed to move me the first second and third time I listened to it! Impressed? You betcha! And that takes some doing these days! That substance I mentioned? Delivered here in abundance!
If you come into this album looking for ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt 2”, you’re going to be disappointed. There’s really very little of anything of that ilk here, much like Radiohead transitioned from ‘Pablo Honey’ and ‘The Bends’ into something else entirely, but if you come at it with an open mind understanding that, even from the very first track, there’s a story being told of an evolution from a state of what was, to what now is, then hopefully you’ll take from this that which I feel Skin et al. are telling you in their own compelling way. You don’t always get what you’re looking for in life, but you often end up getting what you need. Sometimes that can be something just as simple as ‘The Painful Truth’, and sometimes a sad ending such as is delivered here in the form of a song can bring you to appreciate what was, what is, and perhaps inspire you for what is yet to come. In this case.. another album released without another 9 year gap please Skunk Anansie!!
“The Painful Truth” track listing:
01. An Artist Is An Artist
02. This Is Not Your Life
03. Shame
04. Lost And Found
05. Cheers
06. Shoulda Been You
07. Animal
08. Fell In Love With A Girl
09. My Greatest Moment
10. Meltdown
2025 TOUR DATES