GUERRILLA

Now this is where things start to get really weird! Super Furry Animals pushed their songwriting in order to make something different after the success of "Radiator". This album aim's to expand their sound even furthur, yet also drops some of the other things that made the first 2 albums great (although they will return on different albums!). "Guerrilla" still stands as their most experimental album yet and is truely amazing. Some of this stuff is almost as daring as Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart's work and is a very daring release for a band who are able to get into the pop charts with their singles.

After the irritating effects intro the album leads into the simple structured short single, "Do or Die" which is a pretty neat track, leaning more towards the debut album. "The Turning Tide" offers some great vocal work and is one of the bands best slow ballad like tracks. I wouldn't say that the band actually has a ballad as perhaps their music is too crazy for that.

"Northern Lites" add's to the craziness of this album by going into a carribean style sound! Somehow this managed to be a great single and is one of my all time favourite SFA tracks. "Night Vision" is a good rocker, it is evident by this time that the band members have gone mad as the music on this album is completely insane. I think the album get's even more perculiar from there. "Where I Lay My Phone" is definetly one of the weirdest tracks the band has ever written. It still sounds good, if yet a pointless thing to write about. It seems that SFA have sacrificed some of the touching songwriting that graced the last album, so to make up for it songs like "Something's Come from Nothing", "Fire in My Heart" and "The Turning Tide" have been placed on the album to keep a good balance going, and it works.

"A Specific Ocean" ~ Gloomy interlude or just filler? Either way not much to say about this track. There is another one later on called "The Sound of Life Today". Perhaps these odd titles are meant to inspire wider thinking but i guess it does add to the theme of insane songwriting and experimental madness that has been attatched to this album.

"Something's Come from Nothing" is a brilliant journey. They have really toned down the crazy here to make a really touching experimental piece, adding to the art rock of their music. The lyrics go for quite a minimalist approach by only have one line repeated over. This makes for quite an atmopsheric vocal range which is able to be expressed in different ways. This is definetly one of the standout tracks on the album, one that requires patience.

"The Door to This House Remains Open" is a rather creepy piece of music that sounds like it could be a graveyard anthem. This shows off more experimental work and it has an almost techno-ish rhythm to it. A strong use of computerised drum beats and bass flows in this song. Tracks with such experimentalism add to the variety on this album. "The Teacher" is a "God! Show Me Magic" style freak out! Some nice piano work and altogether rock jam.

"Fire in My Heart" is a touching single that only requires one Gruff singing and an acoustic guitar. This track remains a classic live piece and decent single. This shows off the heart of an altogether cold feeling album. This warms it up with its amazing simplicity and stereotypical love song lyrics that have been given their own SFA crazy twist. Probably the only love song ever written to have lyrics about monkey puzzle trees. I think the lyric "I'm driving myself mad" sums up "Guerrilla" perfectly. This is an album that sounds like someone who has been driven mad would write, and it can quite easily drive the listener mad.

"Guerrella" is probably the most difficult Super Furry Animals album to approach as it is very demanding. SFA succeed in pushing their sound even furthur, favouring experimental works. This album is less pop friendly which is probably a good thing as it allows more complex music to be written. This is kind of an approach with caution album but once you get into it, it really is one of the bands best albums.