Album Review: Midnight Juggernauts - Uncanny Valley

There's a laziness to the Midnight Juggernauts' sound which often serves them well, but on Uncanny Valley it all feels a little unfocused. The slower pace of the album (sitting just around the magic heartbeat rate) helps to induce a hypnotic resonance but also makes it harder to concentrate on the tunes without drifting away.

Opening track HCL is not quite an intro and not quite a whole song, it just never quite gets over the line. Ballad Of The War Machine follows closely and it is one of the most fully realised tracks on the album. The synth arpeggios double up for the chorus, and the “ahhhs” that make the hook are fantastic – it's up there with the best songs they've written. Straight away they break the mould and go for the disco light of the second single Memorium, which works fantastically with its video, but misses something important without the visuals. Sugar And Bullets takes full advantage of the disco as well, and it really starts to get a bit cheesy. As usual, their darker more subversive songs and moods work better, but these moments are heavily outweighed by the lackadaisical, hammock-dwelling apathy that drowns most of the album. 

The overall sound of the record, and the cohesiveness really serves it well, but the concepts and songwriting are too loose to provide any real lasting satisfaction. The Juggers have always sounded on the verge of making a really great record, but they still haven't quite hit it yet.