Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Duck and cover for the moment the insults hurl when you dare suggest that a premium British band’s latest work is not on the same scale that has once been; but in a world that sees offence as a right, occasionally you must withstand the silver bullet fired and be prepared to stand your ground. Duck perhaps, but not cover, for as long as the sentiment is true and not discourteous then ultimately what happens is that you hope the next album is a return to form, to be successful.

The bottom line of any modern album has to be that it captures your imagination and soul in equal measure, it is no use appealing to one and neglecting the other, in that equation what comes across is a desire to please rather than edify the senses.

The Kaiser Chiefs latest release, Duck, edges down that road, and whilst it avoids the complete cul-de-sac that awaits many who traverse this particular artistic bridge, it nevertheless doesn’t reach the highs to which the first couple of albums managed. It is almost as if the neglect of pace has become a part of the band’s output, the strength of character to which early releases endorsed and powerfully put across.

There are moments in which Duck pokes its head out of the water, it sheds the downy fluffy appearance to which it comfortably sits and takes on the world in the way the listener has come to expect with the Yorkshire band. In songs such as Target, Record Collection, Electric Heart and Kurt vs Frasier (The Battle for Seattle), the image carries the song to its objective, to have the heart and mind fall at the same time for the pulse and measure that has been visualised.

A band like the Kaiser Chiefs will always have their fans, the ones that, quite rightly, passionately follow every word with a rod of iron, however, to the lay person, the ones who seek the balance afforded by the previous outings, Duck is a performance that is sketchy, the full draw of the quill not completely found.

Ian D. Hall