When dance and rock, er, rock!
This is the album which finally prompted Unkle to venture out into the live arena as a band; their addition to the Reading and Leeds line-up was one of this summer's stand out live moments. The recording process for 'War Stories' was very different from their previous LPs, with most of the instrumentation played live. Unkle enlisted a variety of players to contribute: Jeordie White aka Twiggy Ramirez plays bass on the album's first single 'Burn My Shadow'; Nada Surf's Matthew Caws contributes guitar riffs to 'Broken', while David Catching from Eagles of Death Metal lends his guitar playing skills to various tracks.
As you might expect, the guest vocalists are of the highest order. Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Ian Astbury (The Cult) and 3D (Massive Attack) all appear, plus there's full band collaborations from Autolux and The Duke Spirit. The final piece in the jigsaw is completed as James Lavelle makes his vocal debut on 'Hold My Hand' as well as dueting with Richard File on 'Morning Rage'.
So that's the identity parade done and dusted, but is this album a case of a group of people with many talents coming together and it all running smoothly? Or is this Unkle showing off how great their contact list is but with little result? The answer is categorically the former.
'Burn My Shadow' (feat. Ian Astbury) was a mighty way to introduce the return of Unkle, hitting the ground running with pulsating guitar rifts and a killer chorus hook that gives this track an explosive all round sound that would suit a stadium rock environment. This track appears half way through the record, by which point there's more than enough to gain 'War Stories' a high score rating.
The atmospheric instrumental track 'Chemistry' sets the mood perfectly, with other guitar-driven highlights including the Stone Roses-like 'Hold My Hand' and the U2 or Moby reminiscent 'Keys to the Kingdom'.
'War Stories' is far from a dance-rooted artist going all rock on us though. 'Restless' which features Josh Homme has the sort of electronic bass line Daft Punk might produce, meanwhile 'Twilight' is as ambient as the name, and the fact it has the bloke from Massive Attack on board would suggest. The laid back theme is continued with 'Price You Pay' and the album's closing track, 'When Things Explode' another that features Ian Astbury.
Sure there's plenty of extra bodies involved that should make this a great record, but James Lavelle and co have made Unkle's third LP one of the must own from 2007.