The Libertines' 2015 comeback album
Anthems for Doomed Youth seemed like it might be a one-off, but nine years later,
All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade proves they're as dedicated to making new music as they are to touring. Like
Anthems, their fourth album is considerably cleaner and sometimes safer-sounding than the raffish
Up the Bracket and
The Libertines, although the band uses this polish skillfully on "Night of the Hunter," a vignette of antihero glamor that's equal parts spaghetti western, film noir, and Swan Lake. There's also a little more fire in the performances this time around, especially on the
Clash-y punk of "Oh Shit" and on "Run Run Run," the entertainingly self-aware echo of their glory days that kicks off the album.
Carl Barât,
Peter Doherty, and company spend as much time riffing on their status as rock & roll survivors on
Esplanade as they did mythologizing their elegantly wasted twenties two decades prior, but
Doherty's fascination with mortality takes on a more philosophical patina with "Songs They Never Play on the Radio"'s wry midlife angst. A mature perspective can still be rebellious -- as the years go by, the list of things to protest grows longer -- and
All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade is frequently most engaging when the band reflects on the changing world around them. "Merry Old England," a cutting portrait of the attitudes that greet refugees and immigrants, is one of the album's highlights, as is "Shiver"'s driving look at the irrelevance of traditions. ~ Heather Phares
