The Coral – Move Through The Dawn

A mixed return from the much-loved Liverpool group...

The Krautrock sensibility that offered The Coral a sniff at reinvention on 2016’s ‘Distance Inbetween’ has faded a little for its follow-up, an album that has to work twice as hard to impress after the initial horror of its ghastly artwork.

The unshakeably direct guitar licks of old are still there and James Skelly’s vocals remain as warmly melodic as ever, but the elusive spark is largely absent. Songs like ‘Love Or Solution’ and ‘Outside My Window’ are middling plodders that sound like faded memories of finer moments of old. ‘Reaching Out For A Friend’ is a sonic cousin of Noel Gallagher’s ‘Holy Mountain’, while ‘After The Fair’ offers a beautifully simple conclusion, the slightly oppressive chug stripped away for an acoustic meditation on loves lost and what comes next.

‘Move Through The Dawn’ is an album sadly bereft of impact, from its lacklustre cover onwards. Album highpoint ‘Strangers In The Hollow’ suggests the light hasn’t entirely gone out, but it certainly seems to be dimming.

5/10

Words: Gareth James

Dig it? Dig deeper: Shack, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Love

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