Album Review
Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy
2 StarsRock operas have their place, but this isn’t the pick of the bunch.
Titus Andronicus are staunch in their ability to set the agenda. They’ve made a rock opera. 93 minutes long. Full time plus stoppage but just shy of ‘Fergie time’. Titus Andronicus? More like Titus Andronandonandonicus. Ultra-conceptualised, it follows the journey of a ‘hero’ in a brutally cruel city, spanning across five ‘acts’ that travel down a collision course of truth and consciousness. It’s deep, it’s twisted and it’s a big fucking job to consume.
Before the album’s release, brains behind the ambition Patrick Stickles told fans to “close tabs”, “physical doors and windows” too. The only tab they could have open, he demanded, was the Genius.com link to the album’s lyrics. The only other company they could keep would be sleevenotes, maybe even a Titus Andronicus shrine if they had one handy. Before anyone can get a word in, this much is clear - Stickles and co. have made a monster of a record that needs to be respected.
This is a pickle. Deciding how things are consumed is perennial struggle, not least in an age where flitting between tabs, records and plans is a default mode. That Titus Andronicus are even encouraging this kind of listening routine is either foolish or brilliantly brave - there are very few bands that would attempt as much, that’s for sure.
On the one hand, ‘The Most Lamentable Tragedy’ gives the impression of being meticulously constructed. It flows like several scenes from a film, gradually unravelling a plot. The scope and scale of this 29-track beast cannot be understated, from ‘Auld Land Syne’ chants to the vicious contrast between ‘No Future’’s fourth and fifth parts. On the flipside, the album sheds its skin spontaneously. Emotions build like Stickles has been given a blank piece of paper and licence to roam, the record’s mammoth running time ticking like a bomb that could stop short and go off at any moment.
Motifs and ideas are repeated. ‘Come On Siobhán’ is an undoubted high, backed by Owen Pallett’s string arrangements. But it’s relief following a bloated build-up from ‘Fatal Flaw’ and ‘Please’. It’s a rush of feeling that takes a lifetime to arrive. There is gravitas and an emotional weight attached to this record, a driven belief that gives Stickles his platform. But that doesn’t make ‘The Most Lamentable Tragedy’ immune to hiccups. It could be more astutely constructed. It could have a more precise sense of build and fall. Where things ought to be reduced and given more purpose, they instead stampede into goodness-knows-where. Ambition doesn’t always equal perfection. Rock operas have their place, but this isn’t the pick of the bunch.
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