Listening to final album by The Cranberries is a rather somber affair. It's not just Dolores O’Riordan’s untimely passing that makes the album bitter sweet; In the End also represents the end of an era for a generation of pop rock fans.
The album started life as a series of demos that O’Riordan had started to record. After her death, it seemed imperative that the rest of the band should remix the tracks and release another album as a glorious swan song.
The albums opener All Over Now encapsulates everything we love about the band in 4 minutes: the jangly melodies, stark, ethereal vocals, picture book lyrics and a killer hook. Lost uses O’Riordans keening vocal to haunting effect alongside a melancholic cello. Wake Me When It’s Over makes best use of a dominant Zombie style bass line and semi spoken vocals to underline politically charged lyrics once more.
Chillingly there are several lyrical moments on the album that seem to foretell the tragic death of the singer. It’s not a doom and gloom, the clouds soon disperse giving way to more upbeat tracks like Summer Song and Crazy Heart.
The album knits the stresses of the biz, heartfelt introspections, emotional outpourings with breezy romantic melodies is a beautiful tapestry that
is a suitable coda for one of the most distinctive and beloved bands the 90s .
Groupie Rating 4/5
