The Empty Threats – happy birthday
The Australian sextet released their 2nd full length album this month, a follow up 2023’s ‘Monster Truck Mondays’, and boy has it been worth the wait. The Empty Threat’s sophomore album ‘happy birthday’ is a tour de force of avant-garde rock. 14 songs and 34 minutes of pure genius, with one track flowing effortlessly into the next.
The Empty Threats combine feverish guitars with thumping drums, rumbling bass and an electric clarinet (yes, you read the last bit correctly) to produce songs full of life. They have a restless, spontaneous and slightly unhinged quality to them. In short, The Empty Threats are the musical equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting. Or, to put it another way, they are six kids racing around in a supermarket trolley with a wheel missing.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the standout tracks: phone call and love from mum and dad. The opening two songs on ‘happy birthday’ display shifting pulses and contrasting blocks of sound. There’s a move away from traditional harmony in favour of something new and urgent. There’s a wonderful sense of rhythm and interlocking patterns. This is what music sounds like when you drop drums, bass, guitars and clarinet into a blender and leave the lid off.
The one feels like a crossover between DEVO and Oasis, especially when the chorus kicks in. Want someone begins with a killer guitar riff, and feels like a Nirvana track produced by Nile Rodgers rather than Butch Vig. By contrast, skye’s theme starts mellow enough before soaring vocals and a heavy guitar ‘wall of sound’ kick in. Terrific stuff!
Chernabog’s dream may be a nod to Disney’s Fantasia movie; it certainly possesses the same technicolour cinematic beauty, and is a wonderfully constructed, multi-layered instrumental. Micro would be a good track to listen to whilst sat in your therapists waiting room. ‘happy birthday’ concludes with thank you in french; a perfect ‘adieu’ from a band at the top of their game.
It will be interesting to see how these tracks sound live. The Empty Threats tour the UK and Europe in October (dates and tickets here). So, if you’ve ever wondered what it must be like to set off a firework in the middle of a tornado – give this band a listen.
MakeIt-Loud 