Artist: Skunk Anansie
Title: The Painful Truth
Genre: Rock / Alt Rock / New Wave
Release Date: 23rd May 2025
Label: FLG
Album Review
I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since the album ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt’ was released. Those were the days when possibilities were still possible, I still had energy and everything was still wondrously analogue. The Nokia 3210 was still a figment of someone’s imagination and the world had not dissolved into a blurry borderless digital mess (looks into space with glassy eyes). SKUNK ANANSIE, named after the spider man of Akan Ghanian folk tales formed in 1994 and with a sludgy metal “Brit Rock” sound, played their first gig at The Splash Club and then took six weeks thereabouts to record ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt’ which was released on One little Indian Records.
The single ‘Selling Jesus’ featured in the movie soundtrack for ‘Strange Days’ and 1996 saw the release of their second album ‘Stoosh’, also on One Little Indian whilst their third long player, ‘Post Orgasmic Chill’, was released on Virgin. Extensive touring with the likes of U2, AEROSMITH, LENNY KRAVITZ, RAMMSTEIN, KILLING JOKE and SOULFLY, to name but a few, followed before the band broke up in 2001. In 2009 the band reformed and released the album ‘Wonderlust’ on V2 / EarMUSIC / Carosello Music in 2010 followed by ‘Black Traffic’ (EarMUSIC) in 2012 and ‘Anarchytecture’ (EarMUSIC) IN 2016. And here we are, up to date. I’ve always been a dabbler when it comes to SKUNK ANANSIE output, if they are playing in a pub or club. I’ll listen but I own none of their output, it’s safe to say I’m not a big fan or connoisseur. This new album is the first I’ve listened to in full since ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt’. Here’s my first play assessment...
The new album set for release later this month still exudes defiance buts fresher. Basically, the band were on the verge of calling it a day. They did not want carry doing the same old things, they did not want to “rest on them laurels” or they’d “wither up and die artistically, musically and mentally, and then financially”. They had done “something fresh and forward thinking” otherwise “We’d just be Skunk Karaoke”, Skin said. Also, bassist Cass was diagnosed with cancer so that added perspective and a new slant to how they wrote the album. So, there’s a lot of pondering on what matters, what’s important on the album. Because it was difficult to create over zoom during lock down, they finally got together in a Devonshire farmhouse and that proximity / togetherness fuelled the creative process and here we are with the finished article...
The album opener ‘An Artist An Artist’ punches a groove and mixes discordance and spat emphatic defiance. ‘This is Not Your Life’ pushes the groove further down to the groin but the energy is more disco. I can’t quite make out the lyric on ‘Shame’. “I got Love from my mother pain from my dad something something...” The constituent parts that informed the whole person that became Skin. The lyric on ‘Lost & Found’ is clearer and has pleasing lilting to it. The simple bass pushes it along like walking over undulating ground and threaded through a needle of sinewy guitars towards the abrupt end.
‘Cheers’ is counted in on the F note and continues pleasingly and coaxing a Billy Idol / Sid Vicious smirk out of me. Nothing complicated here just the note, technique and effect. ‘Shoulda Been You’ starts with a bit of dubby Reggae and then shifting back and forth to standard Rock. It’s ok but I’m not a fan of Reggae really so the track loses itself to me eventually and I prepare for what comes next. “Animal I can regress into an animal in front of you / I can lose my mind” it goes. “I’m not a user, I’m just calculated/ I can regress and do an animal in front of you…”
The mask slips and the personality reveals; an animal presents to the onlooker, it can be intimidating. “You fell in Love with girl who fell in love with boy who fell in love with me”, the vocal on this is delicately silky, keyboard lines that remind me of FEVER RAY, weirdly transgressive and with a hint of danger. This - is - space - ee - to - me, do - you - get - what - I - mean??
The final two tracks are ‘My Greatest Moment’ and ‘Meltdown’. The former is synth lead, a sine wave cuts through like a big black saw coaxed by bom-bom-bom-bom-chish percussion. The latter and final track is insightful & revelatory, easy toned and piano infused. “Angels having a meltdown, in a high-rise renta laugh (?) town”. The track, in my opinion, ends as if the revelations and clarity have not fully formed and the thinker has just wandered off into themselves because more insight is about to materialise.
Overall, I think this is an interesting album, it deserves further listening, it’s a bit slow burning after one run through. I’m not writing it off nor am I in “wow” mode either. And it’s definitely not “Skunk Karaoke”, the music has matured and moved forward into fresher pastures without losing the SKUNK ANANSIE edge. Compared to ‘Paranoid & Sunburnt’ there’s no “N words” here. The delicate souls today would be apoplectic with fury.
Tracklist
01. An Artist Is An Artist
02. This Is Not Your Life
03. Shame
04. Lost & Found
05. Cheers
06. Shoulda Been You
07. Animal
08. Fell In Love
09. My Greatest Moment
10. Meltdown
Line-up
Deborah “Skin” Dyer – Vocals
Martin “Ace” Kent – Guitars
Richard “Cass” Lewis – Bass Guitar
Mark Richardson – Drums
Website
https://skunkanansie.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
