In these tough times, we need some Therapy?
Some bands celebrate milestones by just churning out any old greatest hits album, but Therapy? Have always been a band that goes against the grain. For their 30th anniversary, the band have stepped into Abbey Road Studios to re-record some of their most popular tracks with Chris Sheldon, who recorded their breakout album Troublegum.
The production is more polished than before. Of course, this means that tracks like Screamager and Trigger Inside don't have the lo-fi grungy sound they did initially. This is no bad thing. The production has firmed up the guitars, giving a more thrashy attack, and made the vocals crisper, and what they've lost in youthful angst, they have gained in a more aggressive sound overall.
Manic Street Preacher's James Dean Bradfield’s lends his vocals to Die Laughing which adds to the maddening feel of the track and a cleaned up, Nowhere, is an album highlight. Some of the reworkings don't translate as well: their cover of Husker Du's Diane was terrifyingly sinister when it appeared on the Infernal Love album. The 2020 version abandons the edgy string accompaniment and deathly piano march in favour of a traditional punk rock one, that doesn't quite match up to its chilling 1995 counterpart.
These newly recorded versions are closer to how the band currently sound live. Even though their anniversary tour has been postponed, fans can rest assured that they still sound as angry and melancholic as ever.
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