Review: Kaiser Chiefs - Education, Education, Education & War
[Universal, 2014]
Rating: 6/10
By Christian Power, Contributor
Key Tracks: "Misery Company," "Ruffians On Parade," "One More Last Song"
Education, Education, Education & War: the title of UK band Kaiser Chiefs' latest album and perhaps a salute to Tony Blair's stint in office. It's been a few years since the group pleaded to the world, "Let it never be said / The romance is dead." And while the romance may still be alive, Kaiser Chiefs' status as a global chart-topping success might not be.
Descending from that distinguished spot by no means indicates that their creativity has lost all merit. Recorded and mixed entirely in the United States last year with new drummer Vijay Mistry, the British indie rockers did a decent job on this LP, considering former drummer Nick Hodgson was integral to the band's sound.
Kaiser Chiefs open the record with "The Factory Gates," a song with few if any redeeming qualities. The second track "Coming Home" did little to remedy that, as it is easily the weakest song on the record. What results is a series of generic, bland rock music that fails to impress.
The disappointing opening numbers are quickly compensated with "Misery Company," a pounding tribal jam that was featured throughout the band's tour last summer. A cryptic-yet-riotous laugh overshadows the synthesizer and guitar that complement each other extremely well. It's a repetitive song, but with riffs and solos that evoke the band's roots as an electrifying and successfully independent group, that's easily excusable.
The good thing about Education, Education, Education & War is that unlike the band's career, it improves as it progresses. "Ruffians On Parade" is lyrically the best song on the album. That final word in the album's title comes into play with images of military maps and drones firing as a Confederate flag waves in the distance. Lead vocalist Ricky Wilson caps the chorus by singing "At the last stand of the day / We lost more than we saved / At weekly meetings we go on parade."
The curiously placed sixth track "One More Last Song" is reminiscent of Neon Trees' "Everybody Talks," in a good way. Songs like this are a refreshing change from the ultimately boring "Meanwhile Up In Heaven" and "My Life."
If listeners are looking for another "Oh My God," "I Predict A Riot" or "Ruby," they'll strike out with this record. For a band that has found itself in the middle of reform, Education, Education, Education & War is a solid effort, despite being a far cry from material that permeated the airwaves in the band's heyday. Kaiser Chiefs have always been a band that listeners can count on to produce loveable soccer stadium jams, and it's concerning that an album like this seems to suggest that phenomenon is over.
