After releasing one of, if not the, standout album of 2019 with Dogrel, Dublin five piece Fontaines D.C. are back with A Hero’s Death, the lead single from their upcoming sophomore full length of the same name.
A surprisingly swinging drum part starts things off, sitting somewhat at odds with the garage and post punk influenced sounds that follow, but that actually works well with them as the track goes on.
The garage rock tinges are something new and are reminiscent of the ‘great garage rock scare’ of the early 2000s but with an additional more knowing and sinister edge which is where the post punk kind of sound that marked Dogrel returns.
On top of all of this come Grian Chatten’s vocals and lyrics that are delivered with a terrific honesty and bluntness that brings a great immediacy, while his streak of almost Beat like poetry returns using repetition in hugely confident fashion to make it driving and intense without being alienating.
All of this makes for a track that, to a degree, transcends an obvious genre and, while I doubt this will be a ‘pop hit,’ in a more honest world maybe it should be.
Along with the track comes a great video, starring Game Of Thrones’ Aidan Gillen, that plays up the repetition of the track in a Groundhog Day like way, with hints of David Lynch or David Cronenberg’s take on Naked Lunch (fitting given the Beat like association with the lyrics).
This makes for a single that adds something new to what we heard from Fontaines D.C. on Dogrel while keeping what made that album so good in place and is definitely a positive indication for what we can expect from album number two.
Tommy Girard 