Brian Molko's arrogance is inexcusable. And that's what's so brilliant about his band.
It's like Placebo have almost willed themselves into this position of darkness and decadence, this pit of festering delights and superior knowledge from whence there is rarely any return.
And yet this is by no means a despairing album. If the multi-cultural trio's debut was a pure,
unfettered celebration of hedonism, and the second the post-coitus comedown, then this is the sound of Placebo sorting out where their priorities lie.
Molko & co are back to creating some good solid, back-breaking rock music. Music that lacerates and scars and inspires the listener to even greater heights of personal freedom.
This is an awesome album, almost certainly Placebo's pinnacle, although I'd love to be proved wrong. Songs like the groove-based single 'Taste In Men' and profane, harmony-sweetened 'Special K' are shot through with an intelligence and lust and rampant sexuality that is a delight to hear. Sure, these boys are almost unbearably smug but f**k! That's part of the attraction.
To slow down is to die. Placebo know this: so they produce the astonishing collaboration with psychedelic US rapper Justin Warfield, 'Spite & Malice' with its refrain of "Dope, guns and f**king in the streets" (lifted from an old US hardcore punk slogan), the pace not slipping for a second.
Likewise, 'Black-Eyed' may have a contemporary beat but it's pure Placebo malice, those (My Bloody) Valentine guitars sounding like a constellation of dirty stars.
Yet even Placebo are aware that to live too fast is to die also. So they temper the madness with some old-fashioned steel, courtesy of human dynamo, drummer Steve Hewitt. They also throw in a couple of slower numbers -the contemplative 'Passive/Aggressive' and the outrageously pretentious 'Blue American'.
Then there's the truly frightening song for an old lover, 'Commercial For Levi', where Molko states that he "understand(s) the fascination/I've even been there once or twice" before going on to plead "please don't die". Rarely have Placebo sounded so vulnerable or human.
This album will in no way disappoint Placebo fans.
