Album Review: Don Broco - 'Nightmare Tripping'
Don Broco’s fifth studio album, ‘Nightmare Tripping’, feels like a culmination of the group’s journey over the past (nearly) two decades: and you’ve got to love them for it.
Don Broco, as a band, have gone through one hell of an evolution over the years. From the very early days of the ‘Thug Workout’ and ‘Big Fat Smile’ EPs, to the catchy and quirky debut of ‘Priorities’ and the slick and sleek ‘Automatic’, came ‘Technology’; put simply, a chaotic, fun, and distinctly laddish hour of tracks that feel like someone took a Mad Max DVD and concentrated it through a juicer, which naturally launched the Bedford boys into arena-playing status. ‘Amazing Things’ felt like a natural progression, with distinctly Broco-esque promotion — most notably Ron Damiani scheduling and training for a boxing match with heavyweight boxer Dave Allen, which was naturally building up to ‘Gumshield’ — albeit a little heavier, a little more experimental, a little more honest, and a little more outraged with everything going on. Finally, last Summer, the first taste of the band’s latest offering was aired, with a new single every month or so, culminating in their headlining Wembley arena for their second time. ‘Cellophane’ is furiously fun, swapping between swagger and self-loathing, anguish and animosity. ‘Hype Man’ somehow perfectly straddles the line between machismo, burnout and the beauty of a support network. ‘Disappear’, meanwhile, is a beautiful, addictive, beat-filled four minutes of exhilaration, about the paralysis that can grip you when trying to support someone who’s mentally or emotionally drowning. And, finally, ‘Euphoria’ — the music equivalent of wanting to chase the dragon, particularly with Tom Doyle’s irresistible bass lines riding on the top.
But — still no news as to the album.
Enter ‘Nightmare Tripping’. Released just before Valentine’s Day, the track really does feel like a love letter to the fans. It’s got a bit of everything you could want from Don Broco: Rob Damiani’s frantic, frenetic, and frenzied screams, Matt Donnelly’s still-surprisingly-delicate vocals, Tom and Simon’s chaotic guitar and bass lines. It’s even got the ol’ four part harmonies back, the band sharing the track’s eponymous bridge duties. It feels like two or three other tracks, hacked up and then stitched together in some unholy hybrid of rock, metal, shoegaze, nu-metal, and any of the other myriad influences you might be able to pick up. And it’s beautiful.
Oh, and Nickelback are in it too. That feels like quite an important fact to not gloss over; not to take anything from the Bedford boys, but the feature’s amazing, adding another layer of excitement to the track when you listen to it for the first (or hundredth) time.
But that’s not the only feature on the album.
‘True Believers’ starts off feeling like an exploration of the entire Don Broco journey, what with the ‘Priorities’-esque intro or the ‘Automatic’-like chorus. And that stays kind of true the whole way through, if you discount Sam Carter’s inimitable blegh. But it’s probably more accurate to say it feels more like a ‘the story so far’, what with Damiani and Carter swapping screams between themselves like the Architects’ frontman is formally inducting Don Broco into metalcore stardom. It feels like a track that’s going to quickly become a live favourite, between Donnelly’s catchy, swaying vocals and verses that all but literally scream for a mosh pit. Though, noticeably, it’s actually got some pretty poignant lyrics — good luck picking them out as you listen though!
Speaking of tracks that feel like a look at the band’s journey, ‘Ghost In The Night’ feels like a logical successor to ‘One True Prince’. It has the same expansive, cinematic force, the same ethereal haze dripping off of each of Rob and Matt’s vocals. ‘Ghost In The Night’, though, feels more… urgent? Rather than the philosophical pondering of the ‘Amazing Things’ favourite, it seems desperate for an answer, an acknowledgement — and, with the sudden instrumental crescendo at the end, it seems to reach a heady boiling point.
‘Somersaults’, on the other hand, seems to relish its relative, lethargic chill-ness. It feels like a track destined to just drown your thoughts, shoving it on through your headphones and sinking into the halcyon, nostalgia-laden chorus. There’s a teeny bit of ‘Swimwear Season’ in the expansive chorus, but mostly the track’s its own mesmerising beast.
Three tracks left, even if the whole review’s been out of order.
‘Pacify Me’ is the most unexpected track in the album bar none. Not that it doesn’t sound like Don Broco — from the weird, breathless verses to the catchy choruses, it’s distinctly them. But more just because it’s just so strange, at least as verses go, and then the sudden transition into the Matt-dominated chorus feels unexpected in its normalcy. There’s nothing you can say to give the track any justice — to speak in first person, I’m putting my hands up in surrender for this one.
‘Swimming Pools’ is a bass laden, vocally distorted behemoth, full of pounding drum lines, echoing choruses, and what feels like some indignant rage. It feels a little like a ‘Technology’ deep-cut in its relative straight-forwardness — think ‘Porkies’, perhaps? — but switched up to the new ‘Nightmare Tripping’, acid-riding, sleep paralysis demon normal.
And then, finally, ‘The Corner’.
There’s always a question around album closers. Generally speaking, though, the most memorable are either ballads or huge, crescendo-ing affairs. ‘The Corner’ is certainly closer to the latter, with new instrumental flourishes seeming to pop into existence every fifteen seconds or so, but don’t discount the fragility of Damiani’s vocals in terms of the former. And, when Matt’s vocals finally burst into the track during the chorus, particularly as the track starts to fade into the ether, ‘The Corner’ seems to somehow act as both.
Even if it’s the Nickelback-featuring, eponymous title track that both has and will doubtlessly dominate discourse around the album, the whole album feels like Don Broco turned up a notch. Although it took months after the first few singles graced the music scene for anything concrete to be announced, it’s well worth a weight. Just a shame that the arena shows from November mean we’ll have to wait a while longer for another London headline show… although the Biffy Clyro festival day in Finsbury Park in July is looking all the more tempting.
Words by James O’Sullivan
