Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Somewhere over the rainbow there stands a pot of gold, but beware you don’t follow the wrong natural marvel in the sky, be cautious of the colours that slowly fade to black, because what is more valuable than an ingot taken from a pot and guarded by some unearthly creature, is the vessel released once you follow the Dark Rainbow, the one that Dorothy Gale herself would have had a finer time in awe of; especially if she had the opportunity to be thrust into the path of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ new and generously sublime offering, Dark Rainbow.
The former Gallows frontman, Frank Carter, and Dean Richardson continue their acclaimed partnership with the Rattlesnakes’ immense sound and in the fifth recording a deeper, more deliberating, and seismic passion can be found waiting to be unveiled, to be explored with virtue and deserving presence; for as the reach the end of this particular rainbow, the listener understands intuitively that another one will appear soon and whisk them on another journey of discovery and illumination.
Memory can be a pleasurable curse or an awakening dream, the cause célèbre of the moment catching us breathless, and Dark Rainbow is no exception to the beautiful and manic brilliance we would expect to be introduced to when learning of another’s more thoughtful outpourings.
Complexity is a game best played by those with measured confidence, and in this latest recording the pair unhurriedly release that energy with fine insight, and as tracks such as Man Of The Hour, Can I Take You Home, American Spirit, Queen Of Hearts, Sun Bright Golden Happening, and the superb finale of A Dark Rainbow conquer the space and the spirit occupied by the listener, so that rainbow’s true colours expose a truth, that the darkness may have been spotted as it curved down to the Earth, but in reality it disclosed a wonder of a bright, enigmatic hue ready and willing to be adored.
Music that is authentically driven will always catch the heart and soul of those willing to explore, and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ Dark Rainbow is no exception, an album of represented glory without interruption or unfeeling remarks; this is a giant step taken, and one that is absolute in its place in the pantheon of music released already in 2024.
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes release Dark Rainbow on January 26th via International Death Cult/AWAL. Ian D. Hall