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Del Amitri – Fatal Mistakes

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Del Amitri - Fatal Mistakes

Del Amitri - Fatal Mistakes
3.5

Rating

 3.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • They are back ... after almost two decades
  • Really solid songs
  • Nice variety of tracks

Flyctory.com Cons

  • No really outstanding tracks

Is it really good marketing if you call your album Fatal Mistakes? If you do your first album since 19 years as Del Amitri do on 28th May 2021, this is likely a rather subordinate question. I was really curious about the band’s surprising release. Here is my review.

 

Del Amitri – About The Artists

Del Amitri are an alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band’s name is a corruption form of the Greek name Dimitri. The original 1980 founding lineup was Justin Currie (vocals, bass), James Scobbie (guitars), Donald Bentley (guitars) and Paul Tyagi (drums). They originally grew from a school band. Nowadays, only Currie is still a member of the band, he is joined by Iain Harvie, Andy Alston, Ashley Soan and Kris Dollmore. While their self-titled debut album in 1985, they had much more success with Waking Hours (1989). Majorly due to the single Nothing Ever Happens, the band had some significant attention and that lead to the album being in the Top 10 in Australia and the United Kingdom. The next albums more and more went towards a success in Europe and Australia. Several songs also made it to the Top 10 of various markets. The 1995 single Roll To Me placed fifth in Canada, for example.

Del Amitri studio records became rather rare in the last decades. While their 1997 Some Other Sucker’s Parade was still Top 10 in the UK, the next album followed in 2002. Can You Do Me Good? had success in Scotland, but hardly any measurable commercial impact in other markets. Fatal Mistakes is the band’s first album since 19 years.

 

Del Amitri – Fatal Mistakes – Track by Track

The thirteen track album lasts 46 minutes.

1. You Can’t Go Back

Ain’t it lovely when an album gives you that “good feeling” from the very beginning? Del Amitri definitely do this with Fatal Mistakes and its opening song You Can’t Go Back to me. A lovely, melodic song with scrumming guitars, a present vocal performance. No need to struggle – comfort zone from the first very second onward.

2. All Hail Blind Love

All Hail Blind Love is a bit darker, a bit slower than the first song of the album. The song almost feels to touch folk music here and there. Justin Currie is just a great listen – and on the instrumental side, Del Amitri do a really nice job. Really good song.

3. Musicians And Beer

The drums and distorted guitar riffs are the first sounds you hear while listening to Musicians And Beer. The first lyrics are God doesn’t love you. A song which is beautifully ironic (or truthful?) about life as a musician – especially the negative sides of it. The song just made me smile.

4. Close Your Eyes and Think of England

The second track, which already made a single release made me think a lot about Tom Petty. Ain’t there a similarity between Petty’s great ballads and this one? Even if you do not share my thoughts, I hope you agree that this song is a lovely mid-tempo track.

So close your eyes and think of England
That boat afloat on the ocean
With teh chains of state a-jingling
And at the sight of intermingling
Close your eyes, close your eyes

5. Losing The Will To Die

Losing The Will To Die comes in a very different style. Powerful drums and guitars, a marching rhythm and great work on the bass sounds, which leads to a lovely groove. Del Amitri made you listen and enjoy – now they make you move. Despite the somehow dark sound of the track. Cool song.

6. Otherwise

Otherwise is slower, melancholic. The organ sounds are later more and more accompanied by the guitars. This leads to an impressive atmosphere.

7. It’s Feelings

‘Cause it’s feelings that cut you
It’s feelings I can’t bear
But it’s feelings that put you there

I really enjoy that the album comes with so different moods, different styles. It’s Feelings is having much more happiness in melody. A song, which stays in your mind. Nice opt to have this as a single release.

8. I’m So Scared Of Dying

The eighth song of the album is the second longest song of the album (only the closing track is longer). The song starts rather ordinary and does not feel to add too much character to the album. But the longer you hesitate to go for the skip button, the more the song is fascinating and also becomes more energetic towards its end.

9. Mockingbird, Copy Me Now

The album is full of very different, contrasting songs. Thus, it is not that surprising that the shortest song of the album follows the second longest one. Acoustic guitar and accordion-alike sounds make Mockingbird, Copy Me Now feel like a slow folk track.

10. Missing Person

While I wrote a lot about contrasts in this review, Missing Person feels to connect quite well to the track before. There is still this folk touch with acoustic instrument tunes. I have to admit that both songs relate in a way that I feel that they are not the most catching tracks on the album.

11. Second Staircase

Second Staircase is so beautifully nostalgic. Some parts almost feel like some Genesis songs with Peter Gabriel – but overall, it is a lovely ballad with a very honest, pathetic sound.

12. Lonely

Lonely is that kind of song, which I might call traditional or nostalgic if the band had released this album just a couple of years after the previous one already. A slow track, which feels like 1970’s rock and has some Americana touch as well. The song feels very intimate, almost vulnerable, which is the key reason why I somehow enjoy listening to it.

13. Nation Of Caners

The final encore of this album is an epic one – Del Amitri close their Fatal Mistakes with the 7:40 minutes Nation Of Caners. The song is very critic about nowaday’s society. The melodic side of the song is not that thrilling that it may catch you over the whole playtime (it gets more and more powerful, though, over time). But the lyrics are a nice finish.

 

Del Amitri – Fatal Mistakes – Spotify

Here is Fatal Mistakes on Spotify:

 

 

Del Amitri – Fatal Mistakes – My View

I guess almost any review of this album will ask itself whether Del Amitri have done Fatal Mistakes in this album. My answer is no – but they also haven’t delivered a work, which will boost them into the highest ratings. The album has its ups and downs, the mountains are not too high and the valleys are not too low. They do good, but not very good. And they are back after 19 years. That’s already a really good reason to enjoy that release.

 

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