With lead vocals (Eddie Argos) reminiscent of Bobby “BORIS” Pickett’s hit tune “Monster Mash,” and Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, rhymes like “satisfaction” and “can’t stop scratchin’” and subject matter ranging from using a cell phone as an alarm clock while riding public transportation to looking for missing socks, it might be hard to for anyone to believe that Frank Black produced Art Brut vs. Satan. But in this third album from Britain’s punk rock Art Brut, those skeptics are “Satan.”
The album is a criticism of popular music and a defense of the cheeky lyricism that characterized Bang Bang Rock & Roll (2005) and It’s a Bit Complicated (2007). Unfortunately, in criticizing everyone from Coldplay to the Beatles to the “record buying public,” this playfulness has been stifled. In lines like “Bring me tea!” however, it is there, backed by a Bloc Party-meets-The Futureheads sound that demonstrates Art Brut’s musical growth since 2005.
