Manchester-based rockers The Blinders are back with their second studio album, the superbly titled Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath, which was produced by Rob Ellis, released through Modern Sky UK, and is available to buy and stream now.

Comprised of vocalist and guitarist Thomas Haywood, bass guitarist Charlie McGough, and drummer Matthew Neale, The Blinders have toured with the likes of The Charlatans, The View, and Blossoms in recent years, and carved out a name for themselves as an energetic, loud rock band who aren’t afraid of getting political.

Their debut album, 2018’s Columbia, was a dystopian tale of disaffected youth dripping with Orwellian references told through the eyes of the fictional Johnny Dream, and album opener Something Wicked This Way Comes picks up the mantle with an attack on the rise of right-wing politics set against a thumping drum beat. Lunatic (With A Loaded Gun) has Donald Trump within its crosshairs as Haywood sings: “There are children in cages on Monday’s front pages”.

There are more personal tracks on show here too. Circle Song and Black Glass, in particular, see Haywood address some difficult and dark themes, while Interlude is a sharp monologue set to piano that serves as an interesting change of pace. Elsewhere Rage Against The Dying Of The Light puts in a strong case for being the best track on the album with its jagged guitars and stomping finale, as does Mule Track with its infectious bassline.

This is a tense, compressed album with an industrial edge, and in that sense, it certainly captures something of the lockdown zeitgeist. It feels like an evolution of Columbia, smarter, tighter, but just as vitriolic and uncompromising as its predecessor. It’s a record that’s bound to bring The Blinders new fans, and continue their rise, and deservedly so.

Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath track list:

1. Something Wicked This Way Comes

2. Forty Days And Forty Nights

3. Lunatic (With A Loaded Gun)

4. Circle Song

5. I Want Gold

6. Interlude

7. Mule Track

8. Rage At The Dying Of The Light

9. From Nothing To Abundance

10. Black Glass

11. In This Decade

 rock

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.