Album Review: Dinosaur Pile-Up - 'I've Felt Better'
A return to the top: Dinosaur Pile-Up are back doing what they're best - and they've never felt so good.
Hailing from the city of Leeds, Dinosaur Pile-Up have always somewhat been a diamond in the rough. A non-pussyfooting powerhouse that don't do things by halves, the alternative trio have garnered reputable numbers with a dedicated community of skatepark punks and life-affirming gig-goers alike that have always celebrate their music.
From the fuzzy grunge escape with 'Nature Nature' in 2013, gloomy "11:11" hit in 2016, to their most recently lauded 'Celebrity Mansions' in 2019, which propelled the band to new heights with lead giant 'Back Foot' at its peak, the band - long renowned for their high-energy live shows - are considered one of the UK's most beloved alt-rock act.
While upholding themselves as a fine example of that grunge revival sound however, things have not always been plain sailing for them.
Off the highs of a momentous record tour pre-pandemic, things soon took an abrupt halt when ulcerative colitis left frontman Matt Bigland in critical care in early 2021. Moulded around a default response when is friends checked on him in the hospital ward, the bands' defiant fifth record, "I've Felt Better" is a cathartic release after a half-decade of sickness and struggle, as Bigland lays it all out in a near-death epiphany, truly understanding just how fragile life really is.
Bristling with attitude, the brilliant opener of 'Bout to Lose It' puts us directly at the scene of picking things up again, inherently questioning whether they'll be any fans left when he sets foot back into the studio again - "I guess I'm back on the edge / Maybe I have left / Would have been nice if you cared / But what did I expect?" A DPU-classic teetering on the edge in the face of adversity.
Elsewhere, Sick of Being Down spews out in a grunge-ladled flare-up as it takes us back to one of Matt's lowest points - and remarkably, how he made it out.
Seems that sitting in that hospital bed didn't just save Matt's life. It also brought him perspective. After coming a-head, it turns out that life isn't all about getting rich and famous. It's more about making music and getting old with your loved ones - living your life the way you want to.
Fifth track My Way portrays this in the best way in a Hip-Hop inflection with Bizkit's Nu-Metal sprinkled in there for good measure. Almost as a follow-up to the swaggering smash single of 'Back Foot' back in 2019, Matt digs out the music industry and its exploitation in a damning critique - "Anyway what's the point in any of this if isn't any fun? / I don't care about the radio and I don't get number ones," - all the while reflecting his own journey now he's ultimately survived a near-death experience. After all, we've come to realise that quitting ain't his style.
Imposing anthem Big Dogs is another four-to-the-floor stalwart taking a gleeful jibe at societies' most privileged while Loves the Worst takes first prize for the records' stand-out. Reminiscent of pop-punk outfit Lit's most familiar as it spews out a fistful of hate from being cheated on in a past relationship, it's an arena-ready triumph marking an eruptive chorus riff that knocks your socks off.
Toeing the line in love language, "Quasimodo Melonheart" pays homage to his true love while "Sunflower" is simply the trio's victory march: a colourful re-telling of the five years of struggle, resilience and eventually growth: "Hey! The sunflowers couldn't grow tall without the rain."A record unafraid to unmask and lay bare, the devastating closer of "I Don't Love Nothing And Nothing Loves Me" displays his deepest vulnerabilities in emphatic fashion. It's the band unequivocally at their most personal; "loner / psycho / f*ck-up / freak / love it / hate it / that's just me."
While the band may have lost the momentum post-Celebrity Mansion, they still haven't lost a step, despite being five years out of it. Above all else, Dinosaur Pile Up's latest "I've Felt Better" is a huge part of Matt's happily ever after. One big hurrah to life, the album distils a liberation; a relieved scream to the heavens as it celebrates a band - and its leading man - still being here: against all the odds.
Words by Alex Curle
