Review: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes let loose on new album Sticky

: by Joe Sharratt; in Reviews; on 19 October 2021

It’s been a decade since Frank Carter left Gallows, but it’s only in the last few years as the firebrand vocalist has established his newest band as one of the most thrilling live acts currently out there, that you sense everything has started to fall into place. Because now, with their fourth album in six years now out there in the wild, and that reputation for showmanship of the highest order firmly established, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes are getting the credit they deserve.

Much of the band’s back catalogue has dived into difficult themes, most notably on their last LP End Of Suffering, where Carter bared his soul with tracks that explored mental health issues and anxiety in a powerful and honest way. With new album Sticky’s origins lying in lockdown, you might expect more of the same here from Carter and co, but actually this record feels more like the band cutting loose, enjoying themselves, and harvesting the good times their hard work has earned.

The album opens with it’s lead single of the same name, a frightfully addictive track with a big bouncy bassline that we raved about in our review when it was released back in the summer. Bang Bang is a delightfully off the wall collaboration with rapper Lynks, while My Town with Joe Talbot of IDLES fame is ferocious punk at its finest, two of the genre’s biggest current stars combining to devastating effect.

Elsewhere, Go Get A Tattoo sees Lynks return for another twisting vocal performance on a track that steams along, and references Carter’s own passion for inking (“Smash your TV /

Burn the news / All they play is different ways that we live and we lose / Smash your sadness / Go get a tattoo / We were born to win not born to lose”), while closing track Original Sin with Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie brings the curtain down on a blistering ten-track tour de force.

Sticky tracklist: