Food for Worms sounds much cleaner and clearer than their previous material but shame's liveliness and rawness are still here in spades within these sticky and catchy performances. Like a lot of great records, it will just get better and better with each new listen while the songs themselves will be lodged into your head all year long.
South London, English boys from the group known as shame came up from the recent post punk scene out in the UK over the past several years. Not only have these numerous groups of bands blown up critically and also commercially (especially in their homeland) but the quality has just been massively great. Like, massively great. Like, some of the best new music to come out of popular music type of great. shame and their contemporaries like black midi, Black Country, New Road, Dry Cleaning, and Squid are among the young groups currently revitalizing the post punk scene and bringing in a new, youthful edge of creativity we've never heard before. shame are of course included in this group and they are actually the first of this array of groups I've just listed who I haven't covered on this blog in an album review format. There's no excuse as to why to be honest. Their second album Drunk Tank Pink has not only the band becoming even tighter and better performance wise, but the songs are just so freaking good. As I've listened to their brand new third album Food for Worms more and more (which we will get to very soon), I've only become more and more enamored with Drunk Tank Pink and shame in general simply because of how catchy, energetic, and fun their songs are.
So yeah, let's get right into Food for Worms! This is the third album from the group and at first listen, you can definitely notice a difference in tone, production, and performance on this record in comparison. Their previous record sounded very heavy, abrasive, and raw as if it was coming through a garage or basement. Food for Worms on the contrary sounds much cleaner and clearer but the band's liveliness and rawness is still there in spades within the performances. It sounds to me like the majority of the music is recorded straight from the studio directly onto record while the flow is impeccably smooth and immediate from start to finish. Often times you can hear the band talking in between songs in the studio, as if the album was recorded in one take. To be honest, at first I enjoyed the album but I merely liked it as a whole, not loved. The lead singles "Fingers of Steel" and "Six-Pack" are instantly gratifying while many of the deep cuts took a little time to grow on me.
Once they did though, I found this album to be one of if not the most replayed album for me this year so far. I've just been jamming to these songs into my ears over and over. The track listing features more slow, patient and dramatic ballads than the band has ever recorded, so that has been a surprising change of pace for shame this time around. Many of the songs themselves have an anthemic quality to them where I can picture a large crowd just shouting along to these lyrics at the top of their lungs. Rather than producing post punk nearly all of the time, they share takes on classic rock and folk, bringing a bit more variety. The guitars and grooves are sticky as always but the choruses and melodies steal the show for me. They're just so darn catchy... and not like an annoying kind of catchy but a good kind of catchy (if that makes any sense). Every single track here has a great stickiness whether it's coming from the vocals, guitars, key changes or all of the above.
Much of the songs on Food for Worms tackle more mature themes like isolation, friendship, and togetherness. If you heard Drunk Tank Pink, you would probably expect to get more themes of isolation but this time I feel like the songs are written with more nuance. "Fingers of Steel," for example, is one of the better examples of isolation. Even the song's title to me cleverly references the strength of your fingers' repetitive motions only growing stronger and stronger because of our heavily rising usage of technology use and screen time. There are some memorable lines including the chorus, "this time, you feel like you've been found / but when you look, there's no one around." The song is an immediate anthem, a chorus you want to sing your heart out with glorious guitars and some pretty backing vocals. That's another thing about this album, which is how pretty it sounds. You don't necessarily expect anything remotely described as being pretty in shame's music but much of this album has some beautifully performed instrumentation and melodies, like the classic piano on "Fingers of Steel" or the acoustic guitar strumming on "Orchid" or the layered vocal melodies and chanting on "Adderall."
"Six-Pack" is another huge highlight on the album that also deals with themes of isolation. The album is arguably the biggest banger and features some of the more complex and technical performing, especially in the guitars. It's about closing yourself off in a single room where all of your wishes can be met, resulting in this false comfort of reality, similar to that of the times we're still dealing with during and after the pandemic. "Adderall" is a ballad that cleverly sounds like an ode to the prescription drug of choice but in reality it's a sarcastic ode to how the drug has actually taken someone's life away from all the people he/she loves and given this false sense of optimism towards its user. It's another cleverly written song that is equally as great as the previous tracks before it. "Yankees" is a slow burner that is pretty quiet until it has an intensely explosive chorus that just keeps getting better with each listen. "Alibis" quickly picks up the pace with some raging grooves and rapid fire progressions. "Orchid" is another pretty ballad that surprisingly has a more acoustic and gentle feel than the band typically will bring.
"The Fall of Paul" has some of the more frantic guitar passages that are reminiscent of bands like black midi. "Burning by Design" definitely "burns" with its slow intensity that certainly pays off with multiple listens. Despite "Different Person" maybe being my least favorite on the album, it's still a great tune that pays off with its patient progressions. Towards its fiery ending, is has some of the slickest grooves on the album. "All the People" closes the album with a relaxed ballad that slings along at a carefree pace. The vocals and slacked pacing remind me of bands like Parquet Courts and even though I passed it on at first listen, it's quickly become one of my favorite songs on the album due to its super memorable and singalong chorus.
Like with Drunk Tank Pink, I continue to be impressed with shame on Food for Worms. The band have not lost their immediacy, tightness, or songwriting; they've only grown from it. I also believe this is their most mature and well crafted album yet. The band definitely put in more effort, attention to detail, and thought into the songs all while still bringing the youthful energy and urgency they definitely have in spades. I'm surprised at the drastic change in tone and production towards a more clean and clear sound and how well the band has shifted towards it. Although I have not mentioned him once in this review, Charlie Steen is quite the charming and remarkable frontman who has a ton of charisma and charm in his shouty vocals and lyrics, who is certainly one of shame's best and most unique attributes. Like a lot of great records, Food for Worms will just get better and better with each new listen while the songs themselves will be lodged into your head all year long. The anthemic gems just keep on coming from shame.
My Rating: 9 / 10
Favorite Songs: "Fingers of Steel," "Six-Pack," "Adderall," "All the People," "Yankees," "Alibis," "Orchid"
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