Album Title
Placebo
Artist Icon Battle for the Sun (2009)
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First Released

Calendar Icon 2009

Genre

Genre Icon Alternative Rock

Mood

Mood Icon Bittersweet

Style

Style Icon Rock/Pop

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Speed Icon Medium

Release Format

Release Format Icon Album

Record Label Release

Speed Icon SO Recordings

World Sales Figure

Sales Icon 100,000 copies

Album Description
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Battle for the Sun is the sixth studio album by British alternative rock band Placebo, released in 2009 on Solitary Man Records, Vagrant Records, Universal Records, and PIAS Recordings. David Bottrill produced the record, after having previously worked with Tool, Muse, Silverchair, Remy Zero, and dEUS. James Brown, who worked on the band's 2006 album Meds, engineered. It is also the first album with the new drummer, Steve Forrest. Recording took place in Metalworks Studios, Toronto, Canada.
On Battle for the Sun, the band utilize new instruments, such as trumpets and saxophones. Molko even experimented with the Springtime. The material has influences from such bands as PJ Harvey and My Bloody Valentine. It is a heavier-sounding record compared to its predecessor. Frontman Brian Molko said on the concept of the album:
We've made a record about choosing life, about choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light. Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because it's there, it's essential; it's a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead.
Molko has also stated that Battle for the Sun is the band's first album with a discernible thematic unity. Molko states that his favourite track from the album is "Speak in Tongues".
Molko was inspired to write bonus track "Unisex" by the movie Cloverfield.
The mastered album features a slight peculiarity on track 9 ("Julien"): the vocals are doubled for a short duration, with a phrase, sung in low volume, preceding itself. Such artifacts can stem from a variety of sources such as production errors, or from encoding within the .mp3 or .mp4 formats, both of which suffer from just such a flaw.
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User Album Review
“I need a change of skin,” states Brian Molko in that idiosyncratic nasal delivery that’s become his trademark on album opener Kitty Litter. Though refusing to stray far from the tried and tested template of yore – that’ll be goth-rock shot through with a knowing pop sensibility that doffs its cap to spiritual mentors Marc Bolan and David Bowie – Placebo sound refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to take on all comers.

This, in part, is down to three crucial factors. New drummer Steve Forrest delivers a precision that combines power and definition and, as displayed on the title track, an ability to create narrative and texture as he progresses from percussive timekeeping to driving tubthumping.

Secondly, Tool knob-twiddler Dave Bottrill’s production has given Placebo the bite that’s been lacking in their most recent work and the results are sonically impressive. For What It’s Worth is a muscular display of controlled dynamics that rise from a whisper to a scream as elsewhere, Julien employs dance techniques as a lead-in to some impressive six-string bombast. This is a band reconnecting with what they do best and the consequence is an album that’s lacking in introspective artifice and solipsism.

The final component is the song writing. Though hardly breaking new ground, Placebo’s mastery of melody remains undiminished. The air-punching vim of Ashtray Heart betrays a fondness for Pet Shop Boys, its chorus evoking images of a leather-clad Neil Tennant and Breathe Underwater hurtles along with a sense of wild abandon.

There are, of course, some lyrical clunkers. Come Undone’s couplet of “You don’t know how you’re coming across/You act like you don’t give a toss” is shockingly lazy but in the main, Placebo have delivered sixth album that sounds far from being a release this deep into a lengthy career.


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