The Murder Capital’s 3rd Album: Blindness
The Dublin boys from The Murder Capital are back with their third studio album, Blindness, released
on February 21st.
Lead singer James McCovern said back in September, “Blindness is the warped belief. The behind
us… The fading face of moments in the rear view. Blindness brings it all into focus”. It’s clear that the
band wanted to portray an aspect of self-reflection and introspection in this record, and they do this
brilliantly in a collection of tunes full of momentum and intense energy, concocted into a blizzarding
storm of an album.
The album opens with a song you can simply drop your needle into, blasting noise through your
speakers instantly. Moonshot has you hooked and bouncing before you can even put your headphones
on. It is aggressive but fresh and introduces intently that anxious notion that the album holds as a
whole. The band’s second single release, Words Lost Meaning comes next, opposingly slower-paced than its
predecessor Moonshot, but certainly doesn’t lack that heavy grit and grunge, matched by McGovern’s
raspy vocals. The single seems to portray an argument of sorts brewing, and that raw grainy sound in
the instrumentals represents that. Following this is the album’s first single, Can’t Pretend to Know. A
song I’ve so gladly reviewed in the past and one I never get tired of listening to. Its pulsing drums
fighting with the insistent whining guitar make up for an intense mix but a welcome one. James
McGovern himself even superbly described the single as a “whip of a tune”.
Along with the familiar sounding post-punk songs in the album, the band introduce some more
laid-back tunes to help us calm ourselves down after getting caught in the storm, such as A Distant
Life, Swallow and Trailing A Wing. To me it’s as if the clouds part and the sun shines through upon
first listen of these songs, which gives the record as a whole a nice range of sound; stretching from
such shown in the bands’ debut album When I Have Fears (2019), to splashes of folk twang, evident
in Swallow. The political piece, Love of Country, focuses on the dark side of patriotism and the damage it can
cause. The band touch on the genocide of the Palestinian people both in their songwriting here and
frequently in interviews and on social media, and have decided to release a limited 7” record of the
song and all profits made from its sale will be donated to the Medical Aid for Palestinians Charity.
My personal favourite tune on the record has to be That Feeling. Its intro holds a haunting, almost
dystopian impression, and slowly crawls into an anxious array of sound, before building up a hopeful
release of relief, with an excellent punch of guitar being met with a crash of drums to cap off a
wonderfully complete song; one I believe is some of The Murder Capital’s best work to date. It’s a
song you can bounce to, dance to, laugh to or cry to; all I know is I’ll be blasting it on full volume for
a long time to come. The album comes to a close with a beautiful piece in Trailing A Wing, a song that will definitely have fans swaying their arms with their phone torches shining bright.
Overall I believe Blindness is such a well-refined album that has clearly been worked very hard on in
the studio, and it’s certainly paid off. The mixture of emotions that can be felt upon listening to this
record are nothing short of a rollercoaster, and I have no doubt the boys will have been successful in
their mission to inspire introspection within themselves and in listeners. The Murder Capital are one of the best live bands on the scene right now, and their work on this album will be sure to add so much to their already must-see shows. I know I can’t wait to see them on their upcoming UK & Ireland tour, where they will be performing at Brudenell Social Club on April 21st 2025, as well as a collection of intimate in-store performances and signings.