Released-10th August 2018

Rating-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Miles Kane’s third studio album Coup De Grace is less than a month old and has already been a big commercial success for the 32 year old Merseyside man as the album reached number 5 in the Uk album Charts and for good reason. The title is inspired from his favourite wrestler Finn Balors finishing move . The WWE superstar does feature on the video for ‘cry on my guitar’ .

I give this album 4 stars out of 5 ( not a reference to Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino) because i would say out of the three albums he has released as a solo album it is the most intense and fast sounding album with the punk rock 80s feel to it that works well in small dark live shows such as the show I went to in Leeds . This style suits Kane’s vocals and manor the most as he can express his energy into every song which is shown right from the opening  two tracks ‘two little too late’and ‘cry on my guitar’ which has some very smooth and fierce guitar work . The third track ‘loaded’ was the first single from the album and was a taster for what was to come. This song isn’t the slowest in the album but also not the fastest but makes a nice change after the thunder of the first two tracks. It shows how Kane can keep his music varied and interesting as I feel a lot of hard hitting albums can feel very similar and get boring but he keeps changing tempos of his songs to keep it exciting . Track number four ‘cold light of the day’ is my favourite on the album and again it is another fast and amazing punk song that does feature some very good background vocals from Kane’s band. In this song he shows how he can adapt his voice to almost sound like he’s shouting but still sound like a good singer . Song number  five ‘killing the joke’ is the slowest song on the album but Kane does this brilliantly and smoothly and it fits in perfectly . It feels like a deep meaningful song and even  features  the famous phrase by Bruce Forsyth “ nice to see you to see you nice “ which brings a smile to any Tv loving Brit. The 6th track ‘coup de grace’ has Kane doing this dark voice during the verse to then a higher pitch in the chorus. It has this sychadelic aura about it this song . The song ‘silverscreen’ is another strong song that would stand out on a lot of records had it not been for the rest of the strong  songs on this record. The song called ‘wrong side of life’ starts with Kane doing some really weird almost feminine sounding vocals before hitting hard from the slow start into a really intense dramatic song where he sings about his lover and almost sounds like he’s going to cry at the finish of it .

The only song I don’t like on this record is ‘something to rely on’ it gets lost in the album for me as it doesn’t have any stand out bass , no amazing riff , passionate vocals or any energy compared to the other songs in this album . I felt the punk vibe had gone in this song and it doesn’t reflect the album .

The last song ‘shavambacu’ is a really creative attempt at a classic love song. I heard Kane do an acoustic version of this track and it actually sounds better like that stripped back and without all the production behind it . Even though it’s not as good as the acoustic it is still a very nice song and a really relaxing bit of sunshine and light to end this intense punk album .

I would say this album and style from Kane suits him the most and he feels and looks confident in his sound and how he performs live . From his last album with ‘The last shadow puppets’ the album ‘Everything you’ve come to expect’ both Kane and Turner did songs that obviously inspired their latest albums. Kane did songs such as ‘bad habits’ which would easily work on his new album whilst Turner did songs like ‘Sweet Dreams TN’ which would work on the Arctic Monkeys newest record .

 

I would recommend  this  album to any fan of punk , rock , indie and most  fans of Kane would say that this has to be his best work yet .