Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes – Modern Ruin
- Written by Rob Barker
Frank Carter – Tattooist, former Gallows frontman, one-time Pure Love singer, painter and (as of 2015) one-quarter of Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes. To say that Carter likes to keep busy is like saying that Rick James quite liked to party. With so much creative output throughout his career so far, it should come as no surprise that Carter’s collective influences are eclectic, which brings us to the latest album from The Rattlesnakes, Modern Ruin.
From start to finish, it’s clear that this record is born out of everything that went before it. Gallows’ venom and Pure Love’s melodic rock tones are both here, combined with the sledgehammer riffs and driving drums provided once again by Rattlesnakes' Dean Richardson (guitar), Tom Barclay (bass) and Gareth Grover (drums).
Where the Rattlesnakes’ previous album, Blossom, was a sonic punch to the face, Modern Ruin is a dagger slipped between the ribs, moving away from heavy guitars to get its point across, taking a more discrete, but no less impactful approach. This shift is clear from the album’s first track, ‘Bluebelle’. A lilting country-blues tune (named after Carter’s dog, as it happens) might not be what you expect from a frontman who was previously photographed shirtless and bloody-faced, but Modern Ruin isn’t an album that just re-treads old ground.
That’s not to say there isn’t any grit or aggression to be found, ‘Jackals’ is a sub-one-minute hardcore tornado, ‘Modern Ruin’ feels like the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage meets Refused, and Richardson’s main riff in ‘Snake Eyes’ will stick in your head like an ice-pick. The difference between this and the Frank Carter of old is that he’s found a different way to get his point across. Sure, there are punk and hardcore elements, but there is also blues, country, and indie sounds that don’t just find their way into the mix, they’re as much part of this album as anything else.
Lyrically, a lot of the lyrical content is introspective, with Carter laying his emotions bare, singing about love and his own mortality, then things take a real turn with ‘Thunder’. Opening with a simple clean guitar line and violin-like distorted sustained notes, the track sees Carter take a more sombre tone, and that’s something that’s echoed by the words he’s uttering. Tackling the subject of the conflicts and migrant crises that have become an almost routine part of watching or reading the news, it’s one of the most emotional tracks on Modern Ruin, while also being the most outward-looking.
As you might have guessed, Modern Ruin isn’t a surprise return to the fury of Gallows, and it even applies the brakes a little compared to Blossom. With its twists and turns, intricacies and themes, this album is built on the history of what went before it, not as a Frankenstein’s monster amalgamation, but as a mirror of Carter’s own combined experience and maturity.
In short, even if you aren’t a fan of Gallows, Pure Love or even the last Rattlesnakes album, give Modern Ruin a listen, it might surprise you.