Filter – The Sun Comes Out Tonight
I can remember the first time I heard Filter. It was the first year of university, and rather than getting my head down and ploughing on with a particularly dreary essay (the subject of which I can’t remember) I was procrastinating watching endless hockey fight videos online, and the backing song to one (Colorado and Detroit, if you’re interested) happened to be ‘Hey Man Nice Shot’. But rather than merely becoming the soundtrack to a four minute long clip of angry Canadians teeing off on each other, something in the way the song lurched from its tightly coiled verses to its explosive chorus struck somewhat of a chord, and I ended up purchasing their first album ‘Short Bus’, though I never fully explored the rest of their ample discography. But, unfortunately, I didn’t share this little tale out of a fond sense of nostalgia. I thought it necessary because (and there are numerous instances of this) at times when you listen to this album, you can be forgiven for thinking that you’ve popped ‘Short Bus’ into your CD player by mistake.
But then you find that, according to Richard Patrick himself, he wants his new release to sound “…exactly like Short Bus but done in today’s world with today’s technology”. Which makes this review relatively needless if you have a modicum of knowledge of Filter’s sound. But if you don’t, then here we go. On June 3rd 2013, industrial metallers Filter will release their sixth studio album ‘The Sun Comes Out Tonight’ via Spinefarm Records with Bob Marlette (Atreyu, Shinedown) handling production duties and ex-Kill Hannah leader Jonny Radtke joining the ranks alongside Phil Buckman, Jeff Fabb and head honcho Patrick. What they’ve conspired to create is, essentially, a bigger, more muscular ‘Short Bus’, just as Richard Patrick promised. And I’m not out to trash it, because ‘The Sun Comes Out Tonight’ is by no means a bad record. If Filter has proved anything over the years, it’s that they do what they do very, very well, and their latest offering is certainly not going to buck that trend.
You know this is the case straight off the bat, as soon as ‘We Hate It When You Get What You Want’ comes snarling and stomping out your speakers, before first single ‘What Do You Say’ kicks in. To say it sounds like it could’ve been lifted straight from ‘Short Bus’ is a hell of an understatement, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that, with its seething anger and mammoth chorus, it’s a damn fine song. The band maintain these levels of aggression and intensity for the majority of the duration of ‘The Sun Comes Out Tonight’, with ‘Self Inflicted’, ‘Burn It’ and ‘Take That Knife Out Of My Back’ particularly full-blooded highlights, though at times the bands adherence to their well-worn formula results in stretches of the album in which songs seem to slam into each other with no real distinction.
On occasion, as they’ve done on previous releases, the band ventures into gentler pastures. The sweet, synth and acoustic guitar led ‘Surprise’ is aptly named, and tracks like ‘First You Break It’, ‘It’s My Time’ and ‘It’s Just You’ are equally brighter, softer moments that add a bit of variation to the overall bleak tumult of the album, hinting at the depth of song writing talent that the band actually have. All the ingredients that turned you into a fan of Filter in the first place are all here in abundance, and while you’ll have undoubtedly heard it all before, it’s still a cohesive, flab-free and ultimately rocking album. It’s just a shame that, when Patrick sings “it doesn’t really matter cos it’s all the same” during the chorus of ‘What Do You Say’, you can’t help but agree perhaps a little more strongly than you’d like too. 6.85/10
Andy McCabe