A new sound for new fans
For a band that’s long reveled in shadows of cheap hotel rooms reeking of stale cigarette smoke, releasing an album 13 years after its debut may actually yield good luck. After finding success stateside with 2006’s Meds and losing drummer Steve Hewitt to mysterious circumstances, Placebo debuts a new sound on Battle, with a punchier, heavier and more stable assault than ever. The threesome, along with Tool-producer Dave Bottrill, deliver a brightly focused, 13-track collection that hard-core fans will pan and newbies will adore. The shouted vocals of “Ashtray Heart” and even the constant unabashed glam-power-pop strewn throughout signal a new day for the band, and by the time you hear the triumphant brass of closer “Kings of Medicine,” you may feel a bit guilty for instinctively using the record as a rainy-day mood setter.