The Living End - TheEnding is Just theBeginning Repeating

Thu 4th Aug, 2011 in Music Reviews

The Living End have become an institution in Australian rock and roll. Having toured the country extensively since releasing their debut record in 1998 there’s a chance that you’ve seen them live without even intending to; you might want to do a double take to check you’re not watching them right now.

Living End records work best when they play at their strengths, rocking six-strings and a galloping pace, and album opener In The Morning certainly throws a stack of killer guitar licks in for everyone who has complained about the lack of fancy solos on their last few albums. The track doesn’t stray far from the sound we’ve come to expect from the band – jagged guitars with a driving rhythm section and this certainly isn’t a bad thing. Heatwave clinches the rocking one-two punch opener with a big riff that may owe a little to a certain Metallica song; its chorus gets stuck in your head and some enthusiastic “whoa-ohs” mask the lack of any real lyrical substance.

Despite the opening rockers, the bulk of Beginning Repeating is made up of anthems that ape the sounds of early U2/late Green Day material, a direction they’ve only hinted at on earlier records. It’s not a sound that works at their strengths, For Another Day’s hanging reverb echoes about like a fistful of TLE ballads before it, and its vocal call to arms fails to strike any ‘us versus them’ passion with its tired melody. Likewise Ride The Wave Boy plateaus early, plodding along with no real direction. When this sound pays off however, it pays off big, with Song for the Lonely and Resist easily being the highlights of the record. They keeps the urgency of the bands best tracks and the choruses are booming anthems, primed and ready for fist pumps and sing-alongs.

The production values however really put the final nail in for Beginning Repeating, stepping away from the live sound John Agnello captured so well on White Noise. While producer Nick Didia has crafted big and crisp sounds that fit the ballads and stadium anthems, the rock songs are left sounding clinical and empty. There are wide spaces in the sound that take the punch out of album closers, Universe and the title track, while Chris Cheney’s voice is so compressed that it flattens the hooks in the album’s more energetic moments.

The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating sees The Living End playing a little outside their comfort zone, although the sound is not entirely unfamiliar. While there are some enjoyable moments, it is ultimately flawed by sterile production values, a misstep in creative direction and underdeveloped songs.