Album Review: Bastille – Doom Days

London foursome Bastille have found their place in the world, amassing an impressive following for those who like clean, catchy pop-rock that doesn’t stray too much off the garden path into any outlandish, unexpected musical deviations. 

Such was the norm for their first releases, 2013’s Bad Blood and 2016’s Wild World. Fans that jumped on board for these two will not be disappointed with their latest Doom Days, because luckily for them it’s about the same offering of safe, familiar polished rock with Dan Smith’s admittedly likeable croon. But really, it would be a refreshing turn if these guys just shook it up a tad with something that rises above the same old, same old.

The trouble is that it’s already working so well for them, so why change? Doom Days is certainly not unlikeable, and throwing in some curveballs for change’s sake isn’t the way to do it. But staying the course has resulted in a ho-hum listen. Dan Smith has the talent to carve up his tenor tones with more variation and pitching above and below. The closest he gets is on the upbeat Joy. If it’s not a shake-up in the vocals then perhaps a structural shift would help, because having every song start minimal then take off in the chorus sure gets old fast.