27. January 2025
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Media Review

Mogwai – The Bad Fire

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Mogwai - The Bad Fire

Mogwai - The Bad Fire
4.5

Rating

 4.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very impressing, intense songwriting
  • Strong atmosphere and good song plots

The Scottish band Mogwai is celebrating their thirtieth band anniversary this year. Thus, you could see their eleventh studio album as part of the big post-rock party. The release date of The Bad Fire is 24th January 2025, I had a listen.

 

Mogwai – About The Artists

Mogwai have been founded in 1995 in Glasgow. Remarkably, three of the founding members are still active. Namely, they are Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, bass, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass, guitar, keys) and Martin Bulloch (drums). Barry Burns, who plays multiple instruments including the flute, joined the band in 1998. The majority of Mogwai songs are instrumental, some use voice changing, distortion, or languages which the audience is typically not understanding. The band name is deriving from the creature in the Gremlins movies. During the band history, the band steadily improved their popularity, also in markets outside Europe. Any Mogwai album, including the debut Mogwai Young Team (1997) has made it into the British charts.

The most recent album by the Scottish band has been As the Love Continues, released in February 2021. The album topped the British and Scottish charts and was a Top 5 one in Germany and the Flemish part of Belgium.

 

Mogwai – The Bad Fire – Track by Track

The ten track album lasts 55 minutes. There will also be deluxe versions with demo tracks available.

1. God Gets You Back

The album opens with the almost seven minute epic Got Gets You Back, one of its single releases. Mogwai invests the time into a prolonged intro, which more and more leads into the main part of the song. Mogwai is also using some backing vocals in here, which leads into a spheric mixture of alt-rock and synth-pop elements. In the second half, the opener feels a bit of lengthy, though.

2. Hi Chaos

Hi Chaos presents a guitar theme rather early. Nonetheless, the song has a similar plot than the opener, with a steadily developing plot. With the guitars being more present, the song definitely rather heads into the rock direction.

3. What Kind Of Mix Is This?

The third track What Kind Of Mix Is This? comes with a slower tempo. The rhythm rather makes it feel like a slow march. Synth sounds from the keys and guitar riff define the sound of the track. You have to listen to these kind of songs very intensively, otherwise you miss its fine details.

4. Fanzine Made Of Flesh

Fanzine Made Of Flesh welcomes the listener with very present guitar riffs. However, Mogwai is adding the synth element very soon and even works with distorted vocal elements. The sound feels industrial, almost robotic, while the chorus is very pop-ish. This leads to a rather light and easy listen. Nice.

5. Pale Vegan Hip Pain

The fifth song rather hits a sentimental, almost melancholic side of The Bad Fire. You should like not invest too much time in interpreting the titles Mogwai is giving their songs. It is much better to invest your energy into a deep listen and find your own emotions by songs like this. I am reminded of space travel and freedom. This is all based on beautiful and – again – complex songwriting.

6. If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some Of The Others

Space travel? Maybe that is a good fit to the lengthy title of the sixth song of the album. Not only its title takes some time to read, the 7:23 minute song is also the longest listen on Mogwai’s 2025 release. These epic songs simply have the time to slowly build a full plot, which also makes it easier to dive deep into the world of Mogwai’s music. There are fine, dreaming parts as well as harder rocking elements in here. A very good, but also intense song.

7. 18 Volcanoes

In 18 Volcanoes, Mogwai is especially surprising with intensively using vocal elements. In contrast to the songs before, they are partially rather clear and present. The song starts slow, but especially the middle part and the coda are very intense. I even feel a bit of depression while listening to this one. This turns the seventh song of The Bad Fire into a scary listen to me. But hey, somehow this also means that the Scots did a really good job in here.

8. Hammer Room

After being at the volcanoes, Mogwai is taking you to the Hammer Room for a bit more than five minutes. The melodic piano intro gives a pop music feeling. However, the leading instrumental role is soon taken over by synth sounds and a very present drum loop. Nonetheless, the song keeps on feeling very melodic.

9. Lion Rumpus

Another The Bad Fire single release so far has been Lion Rumpus. With 3:33 minutes, the song is the shortest of the album. There is a lot of distortion in this guitar-dominated track. However, you also feel the intense usage of synth elements again.

10. Fact Boy

The Bad Fire is closing with another seven minute song, Fact Boy. The song has a lovely balance of synth and guitar elements. It feels very meditative, even a bit of hazy. The string sounds and the marching rhythm even lead to a majestic touch and define a truly epic and memorable finale.

 

Mogwai – The Bad Fire – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Mogwai – The Bad Fire – My View

The Bad Fire is an impressing piece of work. Mogwai recorded ten songs with intense atmosphere, good plots and smart instrumentation. A few sections push a bit too much in my point of view, but I definitely appreciate this one.

Favorite Song: Pale Vegan Hip Pain

 

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